Situation Definition
Stephen Glass, an ex-journalist has forever changed the Journalism industry. He was never an ethical journalist, fabricating 27 out of the 41 articles that were published by him in The New Republic, a well-known newspaper company that focuses on politics. The New Republic once had a great reputation before Glass ruined it and it has taken many years to re-build the great reputation the company once had. When you choose to be a journalist you should know the right choice is to always tell the truth.
Stephen Glass dug himself into a hole, once he realized how easy it was to get away with lying he continued to let it happen. He made up different sources of people and even lied about locations that do not exist. When asked about his wrongdoing he would not take the responsibility for his actions and would lie on top of the first lie. Stephen Glass has made very poor ethical decisions and other journalists can learn from him by taking actions for their wrong-doing and being truthful when you make a mistake.
Analysis
The more you lie and the more people find out the less credible the source is, Glass felt the pressure to succeed and wanted to move up at The New Republic. He thought that lying his way through would help him succeed and move to the top. Yet he hurt himself, in the long run, trying to tweak the story to impress his co-workers.
As a viewer I wanted to believe he was not lying about this all, I even felt like I was tricked to a point. “But why do people lie? Self-esteem and social acceptance are two factors. Saltz (2004) observes that liars “lie to protect themselves, look good, gain financially or socially and avoid punishment” (p. 1). She adds that politicians are thought of as less honest than scientists,” this is exactly what Glass realized (Spurlock, 2016, p. 71). In the movie Shattered Glass, Glass started lying over small little things to make his stories more interesting and read-worthy.
Once Vanity Fair started investigating Glass’s article Hack Heaven and he was exposed he continued to lie, even bringing his boss to the location he claimed the event occurred at, making himself look like a bigger fool. This is yet another ethical issue because Glass is not taking responsibility for his lies, he’s making matters worse. He continues to lie to his co-workers and editor, digging a deeper hole to his journalism careers grave.
When Glass is fired he leaves The New Republic looking like an un-credible news source. Is that the news newspaper’s fault? I think yes, the companies fact-checkers should have looked into detail more and contacted these made-up people Glass created. “The media should be accountable to the people, their sources, those covered in their stories and to their peers. Not all principles are agreed upon as needing to be included in an ethics code,” (Conley, 2009, p. 8). The New Republic did take responsibility and slowly but surely gained the publics’ trust back because it’s still a newspaper company today.
Glass took his position and The New Republic for granted. He was working for one of the top newspapers in the country at the time and ruined not only his reputation but the companies as well. There’s no justification for what the newspaper could have done to cover up Glass’s wrongdoing. The company did the right thing by releasing an apology and they hoped for the best because they cannot take back the past.
Conclusion
Glass made a mistake, 27 times, he was bound to get caught and the fact that it took so long is saddening. He should have taken responsibility for his wrongdoings when his boss first brought it up. Though he made many mistakes, lying on top of the already made up information made matters worse. If I were in Glass’s position I would have confessed to everything right away and if he did so maybe people would have had some respect left for him.
After hearing this story and learning about the incident I have learned my lesson and the importance of credibility in addition to being an honest employee. I know that no matter how hard it may be to move up at your job, lying and ruining your reputation is not a way to get there. This is the perfect example of what not to do if you want to be a good, ethical journalist that keeps their job.
Conley, D. (2009). Media Law and Ethics: Intersection of The New York Times Code of Ethics and Cases. Conference Papers — National Communication Association, 1. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=54434318&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Spurlock, J. (2016). Why Journalists Lie: The Troublesome Times for Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Brian Williams. ETC: A Review of General Semantics, 73(1), 71–76. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ login.aspxdirect=true&db=ufh&AN=125698524&site=ehost-live&scope=site