In the movie Shattered Glass, the main character Stephen Glass fabricated a lot of his stories during the time he wrote for The New Republic. He made up fake places, names, emails, even company websites. Glass lied to his boss and coworkers based on their trusts. He got fired after his editor found out about this. Ethics matters in Journalism, and clearly, Glass is not being an ethical person.
Stephen Glass fabricated 27 stories out of the 41 that he wrote for The New Republic. Stephen Glass lied based on the same reason when other people lie. “But why do people lie? Self-esteem and social acceptance are two factors” (Spurlock, J, 2016). He wants to keep his reputation in The New Republic since he is a star journalist and everyone loves his stories. He enjoyed the compliments that he got from the readers and his coworkers, that’s why he kept making up information to make his stories more interesting and intriguing to read. In the movie, Glass felt excited when he told everyone what he is going to write for his articles. He said he wants every story to be a home run and he loves to see how much people fall in love for his way of telling a story. He earned his trust among his coworkers and everyone vouched for him, even willing to quit the job for him when the main editor, Charles Lane, wants to fire him. “Misplaced trust could turn out to be the most remediable cause of the cheating problem” (Shapiro, I, 2006). Everyone felt disappointed when they find out that Glass lied to them.
If I am in the situation where Stephen Glass is at, I would confess to my editor what I did and what exactly I made up since the first time he asked. That way we can solve the problem together and maybe there will be a way back. I also would not deceive my coworkers based on their trusts. Ethics matters in journalism and in order to be ethical, plagiarism must be eliminated. There are so many other ways to make a story interesting and thrilling, fabrication is the worst among all. Sometimes different writing styles can also get readers’ attention.
References:
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. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/2028122407?accountid=13158
Shapiro, I. (2006). Why they lie: Probing the explanations for journalistic cheating.Canadian Journal of Communication, 31(1), 261-266. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/219564333?accountid=13158