Stephen Glass

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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. 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. 2.0 2.1 Vanity Fair, "Shattered Glass, Vanity Fair, October 2007, accessed on 19 November 2010
  3. Adam L. Penenberg, "Forbes smokes out fake New Republic story on hackers", Forbes, 11 April 1998
  4. Jack Shafer, "Glass Houses", Slate, 15 May 1998
  5. 5.0 5.1 Washington Post, [ "Shattered Glass: Trust in Journalism Interview Transcript"], Washington Post, 12 November 2003
  6. Buzz Bissinger, "Shattered Glass", Vanity Fair, September 1998
  7. Laura Sullivan, "Stephen Glass returns to reporting at 'Rolling Stone'", Daily Pennsylvanian, 24 July 2003