Journalism’s Ethics
Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Ethical lapses in the past year
Breaches of Trust:
Stephen Glass
We will watch Shattered Glass in class today, the story of journalist Stephen Glass. Here are two supplimental readings.
How accurate is Shattered Glass?
Judith Miller
Sourcewatch attempts to unravel the strange case of Judith Miller
The Public Editor of the New York Times explains what went wrong with Miller.
Judith Miller’s farewell to the New York Times.
Jayson Blair
Preventing a second Jayson Blair
4 Comments
November 26, 2008 at 2:30 am
I found the article on Shattered Glass interesting. I couldn’t imagine watching a movie based on something I was a part of. I think it is sad how far people will go in order to get that story and try to fall into favor with the people of the journalism world and their readers.
Any job creates pressure on those who are working in that field. However, I feel that journalism creates a higher stress level on the journalists.
The story on the New York Times reporter, Jayson Blair, who also committed journalistic fraud was similar to that of Stephen Glass. These journalists are frabricating these stories and misleading their readers and colleagues; its scary.
Its also frustrating when people like this commit these acts because it gives the rest of the journalists skepticism. It makes it harder to trust and people begin to ask questions about how accurate the information they are being presented with is. In order to be a successful journalist, you have to have the public’s trust.
Although there is frustration surrounding these issues, the best we can do, as journalists, is prove them wrong with honesty and hard work. Real stories will always remain more significant and hold a closer place in people’s hearts.
November 26, 2008 at 5:08 am
I find it extremely disheartening that journalists would fabricate stories just for the sake of their job; Steven Glass and Jayson Blair were two journalists who did not care about the public in any way, they simply only cared about their careers. To make up stories is one thing, but to then publish and mass distribute the “real” stories is just wrong. To fabricate stories is extremely dangerous to the public, and it provides major trust issues for most of the other journalists who really dedicate their lives to true, accurate stories. It’s one thing to lie in a career, but journalists work for the knowledge of the public, and that is extremely unacceptable.
On the other hand, Judith Miller was a journalist who refused to identify the source for revealing the CIA agent, and spent a good amount of jail time. Though Miller had a very interesting case, she believed that revealing the source was unprofessional, and she was willing to spend time locked-up to defend her belief. Miller stood by her belief in journalism and its confidentiality, even though there were indeed consequences.
November 26, 2008 at 10:00 am
I am really excited about getting to watch “Shattered Glass” after reading the article about it. It’s amazing how fabricating information and creating really good pieces of writing can initially create fame, but then in turn it will all eventually come back to haunt you.
Being a journalism major just makes me question the work of other journalists. Is the Tribune I just read telling me the truth, or did the writers of the articles find themselves in a hurry to meet their deadline and decide to find the rest of the information by unethical, dishonest means? I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but we shouldn’t be skeptical of what we are being told are facts by people we one day would like to fill the shoes of.
Obviously this taints a journalist’s reputation forever. Plagiarizing or fabricating information will eventually come back to bite you in the back, and I know that I don’t want journalism classes in the future reading about how I disgraced the publication I worked for. Doing this will likely prevent you from becoming a respected journalist ever again. It can ruin your life.
As for Judith Miller, I have full respect for her protecting the confidentiality of a source to the point of spending 85 days in jail. Her farewell letter to the Times was very professional, and I think she used this incident to take her career to a new level.
November 26, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Unfortunately, some people give in to greed and don’t realize the negative and widespread consequences of doing so. We need to always remember to be considerate in our social interactions, as journalists and as people. Whether you are a lying, insecure man like Glass, or a strong-willed, confident woman like Miller, you have a responsibility to respect others and to maintain your code of ethics.
I was surprised at the extremes both Glass and Miller went to. Glass could have stopped before he was put in a compromising situation. I thought Miller’s actions were admirable and courageous. She gave up her job after spending so much time in jail. I found it slightly unsettling that journalism is so unsteady in its upholding ethics. It seems that money is the determining factor in a journalist’s decision nowadays, instead of referencing the code. Greed is becoming widespread and objective journalism is suffering. The public has no knowledge of most of the happenings of news businesses, and these articles made me realize that the public’s confidence in the news will consequently decrease. How can we be sure our news is real and that the newspaper we pick up will tell us the most important information we want to know? The answer is, we can’t, and that’s not acceptable.