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H.G. Bissinger explored Glass' aspiring career than was destroyed when his fraudulent practices were exposed. Glass' stories, which were often thought-provoking and compelling, were riddled with inaccuracies and elaborations. Some stories were entirely fictional, an elaborate lie developed in Glass' mind. According to Internet Movie Database, 27 of his 41 published stories were partially or entirely fabricated. While he was undoubtedly a talented writer, his flawed morals marred his career and tarnished the journalism profession.
While he sounds like a bad guy, the first thing I was struck by was how amicable Glass was. He was kind, thoughtful, a little nerdy and a bit insecure. He believed in the power of journalism and of writing. He viewed the agenda-setting power of journalism as an “amazing privilege and huge responsibility.”
It began by elaborating – a detail about a hotel mini fridge turned out to be a rented mini fridge at a young Republicans conference. Glass humbly admitted the error and swiftly apologized. But throughout the story, his story ideas were always so good that they seem suspicious. His sincerity wins them over.
"Journalism is the art of capturing behavior"Today we watched the movie "Shattered Glass," based on a true story. For readers unfamiliar with the film, "Shattered Glass" follows the rise and fall of respected Washington, D.C. journalist Stephen Glass. The movie, made in 2003, was prompted by an article with the same title in a September 1998 article in Vanity Fair.
H.G. Bissinger explored Glass' aspiring career than was destroyed when his fraudulent practices were exposed. Glass' stories, which were often thought-provoking and compelling, were riddled with inaccuracies and elaborations. Some stories were entirely fictional, an elaborate lie developed in Glass' mind. According to Internet Movie Database, 27 of his 41 published stories were partially or entirely fabricated. While he was undoubtedly a talented writer, his flawed morals marred his career and tarnished the journalism profession.
While he sounds like a bad guy, the first thing I was struck by was how amicable Glass was. He was kind, thoughtful, a little nerdy and a bit insecure. He believed in the power of journalism and of writing. He viewed the agenda-setting power of journalism as an “amazing privilege and huge responsibility.”
It began by elaborating – a detail about a hotel mini fridge turned out to be a rented mini fridge at a young Republicans conference. Glass humbly admitted the error and swiftly apologized. But throughout the story, his story ideas were always so good that they seem suspicious. His sincerity wins them over.
Slowly his story unravels as the details and sources of his story “Hack Heaven” don’t exist. He’s smart but not smart enough to cover all of his tracks. Rather than seem like a villain, he comes across as more pathetic. Glass yearns for acceptance and strives for approval. It is this desire to be great that pushes him.
His motivation shows through his monologue at the beginning and end. Glass says that he simply captures the things that motivate, inspire or scare people and tell those things “so that they are the ones telling the story.” He cares more about what his stories do for people than whether they are true. That sort of passion belongs in authors, not journalists.
“This concerns the very field we cover.”
The other main problem raised by this episode is the risks of “trust me” reporting. Glass explains to a classroom of students that there are holes in the fact-checking system. Despite the lengthy editing process each piece undergoes before it is published, there is still room for information to slip through that cannot be verified by an independent source. Glass chose stories whose characters had reason to shy away from the media. The only verification of his story was his notebook.
When we trust a reporter to cover a sensitive, dangerous or undercover topic, we allow them to slip through the loophole in the fact-checking system. While most of these reports are probably credible and this sort of reporting is at times necessary, occasionally a Stephen Glass slips through and stains journalism with storytelling.
“He gave us fiction after fiction and we printed them all as fact.”
Chuck Lane, Glass’ editor
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