Fictional Writer for a Non-fiction Journal

Journalism is a great field because you can tailor your work to fit whatever you are interested in to a certain extent. Yes, you have to check back with editors and you may have specific events and people you are told to cover, but the writer ultimately has the most power. The power is all in your angle, many reporters are asked to cover the same events for various sources, but their stories are all different because they choose to highlight different aspects. While there is plenty of freedom in the journalism field, one thing must remain the same, writers must tell the truth. Journalist have an obligation to their editors, publication, and most importantly their audience to tell the truth. Fact checking is essential in each article a journalist gets published because if one lie is found in a single article the credibility of their entire portfolio will be questioned. Though the main character in Shattered Glass, Steve Glass, was a bit of an extreme case he is a prime example of ruining the credibility of his entire career.

Steve Glass was a fictional writer working for a non fiction journal. His stories were so intriguing that for so long no one suspected that they were fabricated or straight lies. The movie is interesting because it is almost as if Glass truly believes the lies that he writes. He has vivid stories that he sticks to despite being proved wrong. It’s so odd because Glass gives so much great advice on how to be a great writer and editor in the beginning of the movie. His advice on assumptions was key, but very simple; never make assumptions. If you make  an assumption and it is wrong you will look more like a liar rather than someone who made a mistake. Something else I enjoyed was his criticism of editors, “A great editor defends their writers no matter what,” Glass said that it took courage to be this kind of editor. While this seemed like a reasonable thing to believe, it can only be enforced when there is a certain level of trust between the editor and the writer. While Steve Glass was not a great journalist, Shattered Glass is still a great movie for practicing journalist to learn from. They can learn from his mistakes as well as learn from the advice he gave despite the fact that he did not follow it himself.