Thursday, December 2

After seeing that there was a 60 Minutes interview with the real Stephen Glass included on our DVD, I thought we would watch the ten-minute clip. Stephen tells the audience exactly what happened and why, and the real Chuck Lane is also interviewed about the deception. After watching this segment, you'll complete two activities regarding the movie, but more so, regarding the editorial process. I have hard copies of the assignments, but have also posted them below. You will be fact-checking several excerpts from Stephen's other articles, as well as putting yourself in the position of the editor.

I am also including a fun little activity, which you may do in place of one of the others. It is a news brief that is filled with false information. Your job is to fact-check the piece. You may use the Internet to look up businesses, maps, directories, etc. I've included the brief below:

How many mistakes can you find in this news brief?

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Thursday, December 2, 2010) – Scoffing at superstition, protesters gathered outside the Taft Building today to oppose pending federal legislation that would impose new restrictions on SUVs. Blocking the intersection at Constitution and Independence Avenues with an assortment of supersize vehicles - Escapades, Grand Tetons, Liberatos - the gruop called attention to its cause with horn blasts and car alarms that echoed among the cherry trees that line the Mall. Alerted in advance, D.C. police soon dispersed the protesters with help from Anacostia Wrecker Service and other local towing companies, restoring the scene to tranquility and traffic.

Link to the 60 Minutes interview if you would like to check it out: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/60minutes/main552819.shtml

The Editorial Process

We saw Stephen Glass get away with reporting fiction as fact in the film, Shattered Glass. As Glass said in the movie, although there is a rigorous fact-checking system, there is a loop-hole. Oftentimes, a reporter’s notes are the only source to check fact against. Thus, fabricated notes could cause for an untrue story to be printed.

Suppose you had been a fact-checker at The New Republic. Do you think you would have caught Glass’ deceptions? Here are three excerpts from articles Glass wrote for the magazine. Read each one and underline the details that you think need independent verification. In the space provided, explain how you would go about uncovering the real facts.

1. One Chicago-area school for Santas featured a 144-page textbook that provided instruction on everything from going to the bathroom in a Santa suit to rules on how to touch children.

2. Western Union now has a “Stop the Cassini” hotline, 1-888-no-cassini, which forwards anti-Cassini telegrams to the White House for $10 a pop…and Las Vegas is even taking bets on whether the satellite will malfunction. The approximate odds before lift-off: 1 in 70.

3. Take Joel Carni, whose family business, Four Acres, is one of the nation’s largest political novelty manufacturers. This summer, stores will be hit with Carni’s newest project, the Monicondom.

Editorial Standards

During his time at The New Republic, Stephen Glass worked under the editors of Michael Kelly and Charles (Chuck) Lane. As portrayed in the film, Glass and Kelly differ in the ways they provide editorial support to their writers. To gauge this difference, and to learn something about your own editorial philosophy, take a look at the episodes from Shattered Glass described below. For each episode, explain why you agree or disagree with the editor’s actions, and if you disagree, explain what you would have done.

1. When Kelly receives a letter charging that Glass fabricated his account of a hotel room orgy during a young conservatives convention, he asks Glass to gather his notes so they can respond. When he learns that Glass did misreport one detail – there was no mini-bar in the room, just a rented mini-fridge, according to Glass – Kelly sends him home, satisfied that the story is solid. But once Glass is gone, Kelly calls the hotel to confirm that guests can rent a mini-fridge as Glass has claimed.

2. When the publisher forces everyone on staff to circle every comma in the last issue, so he can point out what he believes are mistakes, Kelly confronts him. “These people…deserve our thanks, not another one of your world-famous tantrums,” he tells the publisher. “I would resign before I’d allow you to bully them like that again.” Then, hanging up the phone, Kelly announces, “The Great Comma Debate is history.”

3. After Lane and Glass spend hours in a conference call with Forbes, during which the facts in Glass’ computer hacker story become steadily more and more dubious, Lane sends Glass back to his office and calls the Forbes editor privately to ask that they spare his reporter. “You guys have discovered something that a troubled 25-year-old has done,” he says. “He could be very hurt by what you guys publish.” But when asked if he still stands by the story, Lane answers, off the record, “I’m looking into it…”

4. Finally convinced that Glass faked every shred of evidence for the facts he reported in his computer hacker story, Lane finds himself confronted by other staff members who feel it would be wrong to fire him. “He doctored his notes,” Lane tells them, “He lied to his editor.” But when they insist that Glass only lied out of panic and needs help, Lane backs down. Instead of firing him, he suspends Glass for two years.”