The film Shattered Glass tells the story of former journalist Stephen Glass who was found in 1998 to have fabricated many of his articles written for The New Republic. Honestly I didn’t really like some of the acting in the movie but the story itself was very interesting but appalling. The article that first exposed the scandal was “Hack Heaven.” Forbes reporter Adam Penenberg started looking into the story to see how he got it and Forbes didn’t which is when he started finding out that the sources and subjects in the story, even the story itself, apparently had no record of ever existing. First Stephen claimed he had been duped by his sources but his editor did his own investigation and eventually found out that he had made it all up, including all of his sources and their contact information. Further investigation exposed that he had fabricated parts or all of many other articles he had written.
The biggest shock to me is that a journalist could get away with so much for so long, especially with all the editing and fact-checking that articles go through before being published. I definitely don’t think something like this is possible in today’s world with the digital age enabling anyone and everyone to check facts with just a click. Nevertheless though, it’s a scary story. Stephen claimed that a lot of it was because of the pressure to produce entertaining and humorous stories. This makes me wonder if modern journalists, who are of course feeling those same pressures, fudge facts or information sometimes for these same reasons. Like I said I don’t think it could ever get to that degree, but it’s still worth fact-checking and being cautious of all the time.
Another aspect that amazes me is just his personal choice to do this. I just don’t understand why someone would want to be a journalist and do all the work to be a reporter when he doesn’t even want to report on the facts. Also, it just seems like so much more work to make up stories and sources and make sure that they can be verified with fake websites, phone numbers and email addresses. That’s just so much to keep track of and worry about that the publicity and even fame that might come with it does not seem worth it. It also makes me mad that he recently wrote a fiction book (he seems to be good at that) about his experiences. It’s just another way for him to be in the spotlight and make money off of the disgraceful things he did in his career. Not only did he bring shame to himself and The New Republic but also to the whole profession of journalism which is unfair to all journalists. Even though it made me mad, I really liked learning about this story because journalists face difficult ethical choices all the time and the pressures in the business are stronger today more than ever. However, it’s so important to maintain honest reporting and credibility.