ASSIGNMENT SIX: Please see the film Shattered Glass (Lionsgate, 2004).

You should be able

to find the film online here or on DVD. The DVD cost is about $6. OV instant viewing provides other
options. Most college library film collections have it too. Please contact your tutor immediately if you
have any difficulty finding the film.

Questions for you to answer:

[a] Although the film is not explicit on this point, what seems to be driving Stephen Glass?
As best as you can tell, what are his life goals and aspirations? Did he truly "know himself,"
including his own strengths and weaknesses?

[b] Again, we can only hypothesize, but--before his downfall-- how do you think Glass
would assess his own intelligence? Is it likely he saw himself as smarter than his
colleagues and editors?

[c] Identify and discuss at least two strategies for deception Glass used. Why did they
ultimately fail?

[d] Did Glass leave what Greenspan called "a trail of casualties" in his wake? Who/what
was hurt/damaged by his deception?

[e] What advice would you give to editors about how to avoid hiring someone like Stephen
Glass? What kind of pre-employment screening do you recommend?

ANS:
a) Stephen Glass was driven by his ambitions to make it big in the land of
opportunities. As a journalist, he aimed to be the best, he aspired to write
stories that would capture the reader’s attention and he became
acclaimed for writing brilliant stories. Just as success reached his
doorstep in the field of journalism, he was determined to become an
esteemed lawyer and started studying law from Georgetown. His desire to
be the best and be successful in a competitive world was the impulse that
drove Stephen Glass. He doesn’t truly know himself, I believe where as he
realizes that he is incredibly intelligent along with having a great
imagination being his most significant strength. He in unable to discover
his weakness, which is his over confidence and his ability to manipulate
and his dishonesty towards his peers, all which eventually cause his
downfall.
b) Glass most likely viewed himself as being incredibly smart and clever,
both of which eventually made him feel he could manipulate anyone.
Clearly the numerous occasions that he had managed to dodge his peers
in the office had made him feel smarter above the rest of his peers and
had instilled a belief in him that he could falsify information in his articles
and his mistakes would go unchecked. The way he narrated his stories, he
could easily deceive his peers with the life and the expressions involved in
his narration. He viewed himself as a highly intelligent and an ingenious
person; by the way he had an excuse or a way out for all his errors in the
stories.
c) He used several strategies along his journalism career to deceit others in
his office. He created stories and their characters out of pure fiction and
he tried to back them up with false evidence, like the wrong numbers and
the contact cards for KLUTZ. Those didn’t work at all as there is no
 massive enterprise that only had one contact line operable. When it
comes to the card that he used to identify a certain agent for that
company, the editor easily detected the card as being fake. He also lied
continuously using time to write down false numbers on his notes to
represent his sources. He also used his brother, who studied at Stanford,
to frame a call to his editor and act as the representative of the company.
The editor received information that that call was coming from Stanford,
not from Nevada and that the voice of the caller was young. Thus, Stephen
Glass was let down by his clever shortcuts in deceiving his peers and
eventually paid the price for his artifice.
d) Glass left a trail of casualties by his dishonesty. He severely damaged the
credibility and the integrity of the New Republic and this incurred huge
losses for it after it sent out apology letters for his wrongdoings. He also
put the careers of his peers in jeopardy as they lost their jobs, as the New
Republic was closed down completely by its competitors.
e) Glass fabricated articles completely to post stories based on complete
fiction. He created companies and their representatives but had a talent to
spice up his stories by some intriguing details. Yet, he was let down by his
dishonesty. I believe candidates for such position must be checked
thoroughly to ensure that their academic record has no such similarity to
a wrongdoing like fabrication of facts. Being intelligent is quality but
misusing that intelligence can be an atrocity that can lead to anyone’s
debacle in life.