Shattered Glass is a story about a man who made it big in the journalism field but ultimately created his own downfall. However, Shattered Glass also highlights the possibilities on what can happen if you are unethical in the way you do your job. The most important part of one’s journalism career is his/her credibility. The easiest way to lose credibility is to put out content that isn’t completely truthful and accurate. Stephen Glass neglected to tell the truth, which is probably the worst thing a journalist can do.
Throughout much of the movie, Stephen Glass is depicted as a phenomenal journalist who has a keen eye for incredibly interesting stories which led to him becoming one of the most well-known journalists of his time. However, once one of his story raised some eyebrows, all of the dominoes started to fall and everyone began to understand exactly the kind of journalist Stephen Glass really is.
Fabrication is a very serious ethical issue that most journalists understand is completely unacceptable. Stephen Glass was not one of these people. Fabrication is defined as creating or inventing something that doesn’t really exist. Stephen Glass was found to have fabricated 27 of his 41 stories he wrote as a journalist. Glass claimed that he “wanted every story to be a homerun,” and that he “loved the electricity of people liking his stories. (Leung).
Glass needed to understand that people only liked the stories because they believed them to be true. Glass had the peoples trust and he deceived them. As I said, credibility is everything to a journalist and even only one story was found to be fabricated at first, many followed. Fabricating is a slippery slope that Stephen Glass went tumbling down. It wasn’t long after one story was revealed to be fake, that 26 others did as well.
Don’t get me wrong, fabricating stories is an awful thing to do, but that was only the beginning for Stephen Glass. The damage to his credibility could’ve been limited, but what he did after being confronted on his stories is what destroyed his credibility and legacy.
Glass turned to lying about his stories instead of biting the bullet and admitting his wrongdoing. Lying is the act of intentionally not telling the truth (Spurlock), and Stephen Glass did a lot of it. Glass created notes, business cards and even websites in order to cover up his lies. Spurlock (2016) cites that “self-esteem and social acceptance are two factors” that lead to why people may lie. Regardless, in the field of journalism it is absolutely unacceptable. And as we’ve seen with Glass, “When you get away with a lie it often impels you to continue your deceptions.” (Spurlock). Glass also stated that ““My life was one very long process of lying and lying again, to figure out how to cover those other lies” (Leung).
Due to Glass’ fabrication and lies upon lies, his credibility is forever tarnished. It is near impossible for him to ever become a journalist again because anything he puts his name on will raise questions on the accuracy. Glass was not the first to violate these atrocious ethical codes and will likely, not be the last. But if there is one thing we can learn from his mistakes, it is that no matter what, there is no reason to lie and it will ultimately lead to your demise.
I have learned that no matter what pressure you are under, no matter how bad you want to impress somebody and no matter the circumstances whatsoever, that it is never okay to tell anything but the complete and honest truth as s journalist. The rewards are short-lived and the penalties are lifelong.
WORKS CITED:
Leung, R. (2003, May 07). Stephen Glass: I Lied For Esteem. Retrieved September 21, 2018, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-glass-i-lied-for-esteem-07-05-2003/.
Spurlock, J. (2016). Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Time For Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. ETC: A Review Of General Semantics, 73(1), 71-76. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=125698524&site=ehost-live&scope=site