Shattered Glass (2003)

Fiction is faked into fact in Billy Ray’s 2003 drama Shattered Glass. The movie followed The New Republic magazine associate editor Stephen Glass, whose popularity grew one entertaining story after another. The young writer had a bright future ahead of him, contributing for other known publications such as Harper’s magazine as well. However, his credibility was placed into question when his sources and evidence could not be confirmed for his story “Hack Heaven.”

Hayden Christensen steps into the role of young journalist Stephen Glass. Photo from Lionsgate.

In his piece, Glass wrote about teenager Ian Restil who supposedly hacked into the computer system of Jukt Micronics. In order to prevent him from further breaking into their security, the software company offered him a contract promising a job and one million dollars when they met the teen hacker during a convention. Restil agreed and boasted his gain to other hackers in the event afterwards.

“Hacked Heaven” gained praises from Glass’ co-workers, as well as his new editor Charles "Chuck" Lane. It had the right mix of humor, alongside memorable and iconic characters. Once it was published, it caught the eyes of many including those working in the online magazine Forbes Digital Tool. Reporter Adam Penenberg specifically wondered why he did not get word of this story and began looking into it more.

Penenberg’s research found a suspicious company website, a Palo Alto phone number with only one line, and no record of the people found in the article. When Forbes Digital Tool got in touch with The New Republic, Glass insisted he witnessed the convention in person, leaving no choice but for it to be real. However, once the venues and times did not add up, Glass instead claimed he was not personally there and was duped by his sources. As a consequence, Lane suspended Glass.

Editor Chuck Lane begins getting suspicious of Stephen Glass' story. Photo from Lionsgate.

The problem escalated even more once Lane realized that Glass’ brother posed as the Jukt president using the Palo Alto phone number. Reviewing old stories throughout Glass’ years in The New Republic, Lane discovered that a number of them had been falsified.

Fabricating a story serves as one of the seven deadly sins in journalism and the main issue presented in the movie. In a field where truth and integrity are upheld, writers cannot invent sources, quotes, or any facts of an incident. Even the simplest of information must be true to the writer’s knowledge. Failing to do so mislead the readers and corrupts their perception of the true situation.

Oftentimes, writers create these fake stories for their work to be more palatable to their audience, influencing them to buy and read their publication. In this case, Glass would also be recognized as a talented journalist by his readers, co-workers, and editor and his career would take off even further. However, those who follow the same actions as Glass risk losing their jobs, but more importantly the trust of their readers.

If the Forbes Digital Tool reporters and Lane did not practice healthy skepticism, Glass probably would have continued to fool more readers by fabricating other details in his succeeding works. It was through their investigations, which questioned the information stated, that allowed for the truth to be uncovered.

The New Republic reporters exhaust all resources but find no trace of Jukt Micronics. Photo from Lionsgate.

Many writers of The New Republic had full faith in the credibility of Glass to the point that they defended him to Lane. Glass’ charm and entertaining personality fooled them, blinding their journalistic instincts. As an apology to their readers, they all collaborated in writing an editorial retracting Glass’s fabricated articles and acknowledging their oversight.

Fabrication, as well as other journalistic dilemmas such as conflict of interest, bias, and the like, must not be tolerated. It is the responsibility of reporters to ensure what they publish is the truth and nothing far from it. Objective and honesty are important not just for flourishing a writer’s career but also for maintaining a reader’s trust.

Perhaps people could simply blame Glass’ mistakes on his young age or his desire for success. While it is easy to fall prey to these, they do not serve as a justification for his actions. Glass wrote well and got along with other journalists but his deceitfulness ruined the possibility of ever succeeding the field of journalism.

Caught in his web of lies, Glass was immediately fired by Lane who placed an end to all the deception. Glass later on faced trial where it was discovered that 27 out of 41 his articles for The New Republic were fabricated either wholly or partly. The past cannot be redone as those stories have already been read by the public; however, the reporters of today can learn from Glass’ experience and prevent themselves from repeating the same mistake.