Journalistic Ethics

Former journalist Stephen Glass

Stephen Glass once was a successful journalist, but not all good things last. Although Stephen's news reports were supposedly phenomenal, they were all fabricated. Stephen went his entire career making up stories and publishing them, but one may wonder how he didn't get caught earlier - he went through great lengths to keep it a secret. Stephen would make up fake voicemail's, create fake websites, make fabricated business cards, and fill notebooks with interviews that were not real. Stephen was a journalist for over three years, and once he was caught it was discovered that as many as half his stories were fabrications. A writer for Forbes Magazine, Adam Penenberg was the one to catch Stephen. 

When Stephan was  caught, he apologized for creating false work, however apologizing would not take back his three years of continuous lies. One may not think his situation is worth imprisonment, however Stephen could go to jail for fraud. If not that, then it would make sense for him to pay back all of the money he earned from publishing false stories.

This case became known and there was a movie made called "Shattered Glass," where it plays out his life and what went through to keep up the fabricated stories. 

'Shattered Glass' movie poster