Shattered Glass & The Importance of Research...

Shattered Glass, which told the story of the downfall of reporter Stephen Glass was a really fascinating film, in my opinion. Not only did Glass build his journalistic career on phony stories and nonexistent sources, but he went so far as to create fake business cards for his “sources”, set up websites for imaginary corporations, get family members to leave voicemail messages as his so-called sources, etc. It seemed especially surprising that something like this could occur at any professional publication, but especially at New Republic which was said to be one of the most respected publications around. In the film, one of the points mentioned was that each article circulates to multiple people for checking before it is cleared for publishing. With so many people responsible for making sure Glass’s work was accurate, how did he manage to get away with such ridiculous reporting practices for so long?

The film definitely reiterates the importance of proper research. The issues presented kind of raise questions about how credible the information we receive from the media actually is. If Stephen Glass was able to publish dozens of stories using fake notes and sources that did not exist, how do we know that everything we read in magazines, journals and newspapers is 100% factual? Any thoughts?