The movie Shattered Glass is an accurate depiction of what happens if you behave without ethics and with deception in the world of journalism. Stephen Glass, one of the most sought after writers at The New Republic in the 1990’s, fell under pressure to produce the best and most entertaining stories regardless if the work he published could be backed up with facts.
According to Gene Foreman, author of The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Digital Age, there are two major incentives for ethical behavior in journalism. The moral incentive is the idea that “journalists should be ethical because they, like most other human beings, want to see themselves as decent and honest” (Foreman, 2016). The practical incentive follows the path that in the future “ethical journalism promotes the news organization’s credibility and thus its acceptance by the public” (Foreman, 2016). Deception is defined as “making someone else believe what the deceiver knows to be untrue” (Foreman, 2016).
Glass produced 27 out of 41 articles that did not follow these incentives which resulted in him getting fired. In the film Shattered Glass it was evident that Stephen Glass was a people pleaser. Every day he had a friendly comment to make about his female co- workers. With that in mind, for 2 and a half years he pleased his audience. He was wrapped in to the electric stories he was producing, the fame he was receiving and the fact that he was getting away with it all. In the end, this damaged not only his credibility, but the credibility of The New Republic. In regards to deception, Glass knew exactly what he was doing and that the information he was producing was not factual. According to a scholarly article written by Jefferson Spurlock, it is revealed that Glass made up so much of his content and went the lengths to make be sure he would never get caught. “He made up organizations and quotations. Sometimes, he made up entire articles. And to back it all up, he created fake notes, fake voicemails, fake faxes, even a fake Web site-whatever it took to deceive his editors, not to mention hundreds of thousands of readers” (Spurlock, 2016).
In a scholarly article written by Ivor Shapiro titled Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating, Shapiro argued that suddenly cases similar to Glass’ had been everywhere. He listed roughly 10 headlines that alerted the audience of other journalists plagiarizing and fabricating news stories. He then presented the idea that maybe now these cheaters are just getting caught. As mentioned in class, majority of the public believe that plagiarism and fabrication are the common in the journalism world. This made me think about my future in the industry and how I would truthfully feel knowing what I was doing was unethical.
After watching the movie Shattered Glass and researching the Stephen Glass case, I have learned exactly what not to do in the world of journalism. I learned to never let my ego and self-esteem take precedence over my moral values. I believe that if I ever were in the position Stephen Glass was in, I would admit to my actions before I let it carry me further into the category of absolute deceit. I do believe this case is important to be publicized so young journalists, like myself, can learn from his mistakes and never follow in his footsteps.
References:
Foreman, G. (2016). The ethical Journalist: Making responsible decisions in the digital age. Hoboken: Wiley.
Shapiro, I. (2006). Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating. Canadian Journal of Communication, 31(1), 261-266.
Spurlock, J. (2016) Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. et Cetera, 73(1), 71-76