The movie, Shattered Glass, tells the story of Steven Glass, a young journalist at The New Republicwho made up various facts, details and characters in his stories. Not only did Glass fabricate his stories, but he also lied and deceived his boss and colleges in order to pass the stories off as true. Glass did not act ethically when he fabricated information nor did he act ethically when he lied.
Glass is clearly a character who likes to get attention. In the movie we see that he is thrilled to have a room of his coworkers applauding and complimenting his great stories. I believe that Glass began to make up stories due to his need and love for attention and praise. In other words, Glass lied for the same reason most liars lie, “to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment” (Spurlock, n.d.). Glass cared so much about looking good in front of his colleagues that he ended up completely disrespecting them. The lying didn’t stop at the fabrication of facts and sources. Glass continued to lie when his boss, Charles Lane, questioned him about his characters and sources. Lane even took Glass to the scene of one of his stories and pointed out the fact that the story must be false because the location was not even open the day of the event Glass wrote about. Despite being caught red-handed Glass kept on lying and denying he had done anything wrong. Glass also found ways to make others feel bad for him, for example, crying in the office and blaming his mistakes on stress. Glass continued to cite personal issues and the pressure of the work environment as the reasons for his actions in his book, The Fabulist(Shapiro, 2006). Glass did not even apologize to his coworkers and friends that had lied to so consistently. Glass is actually worse then Shattered Glassdepicted him as; the movie made his character softer and more sympathetic (Ehrlich, M.C. 2005). It is clear to see that the real Glass is an unethical person who is only concerned with benefitting himself.
If I were in the same position Glass was in I would have come clean when my editor confronts one of my fabrications at the scene with the proof. I know it is easy to fall into lying because sometimes it seems like it is the easy way out, but its really not. Lying only makes things worse and more complicated. I would have told me editor the truth at that point in hopes that they would be understanding and help me pick up the pieces of the mess I made. I would have then been extremely grateful and would have learned that fabricating stories is not okay. I truly believe the only resolution to the problem is to come clean about your wrongdoings and unethical decisions and to give an honest, genuine apology.
References:
Ehrlich, M. C. (2005). Shattered Glass, Movies, and the Free Press Myth. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 29(2), 103–118. https://doiorg.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1177/0196859904272741
Shapiro, I. (2006, January). Why They Lie: Probing the Explanations for Journalistic Cheating. Canadian Journal of Communication, 4(3).doi:10.22230/cjc.1977v4n3a182
Spurlock, J. (n.d.). Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times For Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. A Review of General Semantics.