Stephen Glass
Stephen Glass was considered a "rising star"[1] at TNR before it was revealed that he had made up quotations, organizations and in some cases entire articles while working there between 1995-1998. Glass was hired by then editor Andrew Sullivan but was supervised by Sullivan's replacement Charles Lane from 1996 onwards. In 1998 when Glass was reportedly earning $100,000, at least 27 of his 41 stories were revealed to contain fabrications.[2] While editors and other journalists had expressed suspicions about Glass's work before, it was only after a Forbes reporter proved one of Glass's stories about a teenage hacker to be full of fabrications[3] that Lane decided to conduct his own investigation into Glass's work.[4] Lane fired Glass on May 9, 1998. TNR's fact-checking standards were reportedly "tightened"[5] after the incident. Lane served as a "paid consultant"[5] for a 2003 film based on the scandal called "Shattered Glass."
Glass's actions have been described as the "as the most sustained fraud in modern journalism."[6] In a 60 Minutes interview Glass said he "lied for esteem" and has been doing so all his life:
- My life was one very long process of lying and lying again, to figure out how to cover those other lies,” says Glass...Like a stock graph, there's going to be exceptions in this. But the general trend of the stories is that they started out with a few made up details and quotes. And granted a few too many, of course. But a few. And then they progressed into stories that were completely fabricated. Just completely made up out of whole cloth.[1]
Glass moved on to graduate from Georgetown Law School (he had enrolled while working at TNR) and wrote a novel based on his experiences called The Fabulist. In 2003 Rolling Stone published an article by Glass about marijuana in Canada. This decision was greeted by surprise since a previous article Glass had done for them had resulted in a $50 million lawsuit. The event was considered a "publicity stunt."[7] As of 2007 Glass was reportedly living in Los Angeles and touring with a comedy group.[2]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rebecca Leung, "Stephen Glass: I Lied For Esteem: 60 Minutes: Steve Kroft's Exclusive Interview With Former Reporter", 60 Minutes, 17 August 2003
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vanity Fair, "Shattered Glass, Vanity Fair, October 2007, accessed on 19 November 2010
- ↑ Adam L. Penenberg, "Forbes smokes out fake New Republic story on hackers", Forbes, 11 April 1998
- ↑ Jack Shafer, "Glass Houses", Slate, 15 May 1998
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Washington Post, [ "Shattered Glass: Trust in Journalism Interview Transcript"], Washington Post, 12 November 2003
- ↑ Buzz Bissinger, "Shattered Glass", Vanity Fair, September 1998
- ↑ Laura Sullivan, "Stephen Glass returns to reporting at 'Rolling Stone'", Daily Pennsylvanian, 24 July 2003
