Situation definition:
If there is one thing that I have learned during my time as a student in the Penn State College of Communications, it is to always be ethical in my work and to never cheat when completing my assignments. Cheating can get you in trouble in numerous ways and can even put your career on the line. In the film, Shattered Glass, we see Stephen Glass fabricate numerous news stories that he had written for his employer, The New Republic. Glass fabricated 27 out of 41 stories that were published, which included made-up people, quotes and locations.
Not only did Glass lie in his stories he had written, but he also continuously lied to his colleagues and co-workers. Although Glass was well-liked by many people around him, his dishonesty and wrongdoings eventually caught up with him, which ultimately led to him being fired from The New Republic. Glass violated two of the most important principles of a good journalist: being ethical/honest in your work and being trustworthy.
Analysis:
As a journalist, you never want to be biased and you always want to tell the truth no matter what you are writing about. It is essential to always be accurate and always use facts when you are writing a story so that when your audience reads it, they trust that it is factual and that they are being properly informed about certain topics. In the film, Glass did the complete opposite. He completely made up numerous names, places and facts in his story so that it would be more appealing for his audience. Although Glass was a good writer and storyteller, he violated practically every principle of a good journalist.
In Jefferson Spurlock’s article, it asks, “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)” (Spurlock 2016). This applies to Stephen Glass because this could be the reason that he lied and fabricated his stories. He wanted to be seen as a great storyteller and be socially accepted by his peers.
When Glass fabricated all of those stories, I truly believe that it was a selfish act and that he did it in an attempt to boost his reputation. As a journalist, it is important to realize that you are doing a service for the public by informing people about important topics in society. People read the news because they want to be informed and aware of important topics, and it does not do anybody any favors if they are reading something that is not true.
In the article, Civic and Citizen Demands of News Media and Journalists: What Does the Audience Expect from Good Journalism?, “we know what people use the news for- that is, the gratifications they seek: information, entertainment, opinion formation, and social utility-and how this affects news media use and types of stories selected” (van der Wurff, Schoenbach 2014). Here, we see that people use the news for a variety of things, but what is most important is that the news is accurate and factual.
Although Glass may have written entertaining stories for The New Republic, they were mostly false and not factual. Not only did his actions hurt his reputation, but it also hurt The New Republic because many people probably questioned the legitimacy of the news that the company was distributing.
Conclusion:
As I mentioned earlier, two of the most important principles of being a good journalist are to always be ethical and honest in the work that you produce and to be trustworthy. When you are ethical and factual in your work, your audience will trust you more and you will become somebody that people can rely on to produce good work.
One lesson that I learned my junior year from my Comm 271 professor, Curt Chandler, is that it is better to fail than it is to cheat. In life you are going to mess up sometimes and make mistakes, but what matters most is that you put forth your best effort in everything you do. If you cheat, however, it does not do anybody any good and it will eventually come back to hurt you.
References:
- 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.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=125698524&site=ehost-live&scope=site
- van der Wurff, R., & Schoenbach, K. (2014). Civic and Citizen Demands of News Media and Journalists: What Does the Audience Expect from Good Journalism? Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(3), 433–451. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1177/1077699014538974