Editing Stephen Glass (section)

== Journalism career ==
Glass grew up in a Jewish family in the Chicago suburb of [[Highland Park, Illinois|Highland Park]],<ref name=Bissinger>{{cite news | author-link=H. G. Bissinger | first=H. G. | last=Bissinger | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/bissinger199809 | title=Shattered Glass | magazine=[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]] | date=September 1998 | access-date=February 21, 2020 | archive-date=February 5, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205161725/http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/archive/1998/09/bissinger199809 | url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | last=Pfefferman | first=Naomi | title=Journalistic Fake-Out Before Blair | magazine=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles|Jewish Journal]] | date=October 30, 2003 | url=http://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/8613/}}</ref> and attended [[Highland Park High School (Highland Park, Illinois)|Highland Park High School]].<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VLxvUV8xFsgC&pg=PA10 | title=Handbook of Frauds, Scams, and Swindles: Failures of Ethics in Leadership | chapter=The nature of honesty: Exploring examples of the literary hoax in America | pages=10–13 | first=Nancy M. | last=Shelton | date=July 27, 2017 | publisher=CRC Press | isbn=978-1-4200-7286-0 | editor-last1=Matulich | editor-first1=Serge | editor-last2=Currie | editor-first2=David M.}}</ref> He graduated from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] as a University Scholar and was an executive editor of the [[student newspaper]], ''[[The Daily Pennsylvanian]]''.<ref name="czrlaw.com" /><ref>{{cite news | last1=Erdeley | first1=Sabrina | author-link=Sabrina Erdely | title=Reflections on a Shattered Glass | url=https://thepenngazette.com/reflections-on-a-shattered-glass/ | magazine=Pennsylvania Gazette | publisher=University of Pennsylvania | date=January 1, 2004}}</ref> After his graduation, Glass worked for the conservative ''[[Policy Review]]'' before being hired by ''[[The New Republic]]'' in 1995 as an editorial assistant.<ref name=Bissinger /><ref name="Leung 2003">{{cite news | publisher=[[CBS News]] | url=https://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/60minutes/main552819.shtml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030801115636/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/07/60minutes/main552819.shtml | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 1, 2003 | title=Stephen Glass: I lied for self-esteem | first=Rebecca | last=Leung | work=[[60 Minutes]] | date=August 17, 2003}}</ref> Soon after, the 23-year-old Glass advanced to writing features. While employed full-time at ''TNR'', he also wrote for other magazines including ''[[George (magazine)|George]]'', ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', and ''[[Harper's Magazine|Harper's]]'';<ref>{{cite news | url=https://observer.com/1998/05/how-journalisms-new-golden-boy-got-thrown-out-of-new-republic/ | title=How journalism's new golden boy got thrown out of ''New Republic'' | first=Warren | last=St. John | work=[[Observer Media|Observer]] | date=May 25, 1998}}</ref><ref name="Rosin 2014">{{cite magazine | url=https://newrepublic.com/article/120145/stephen-glass-new-republic-scandal-still-haunts-his-law-career | title=Hello, my name is Stephen Glass, and I'm sorry | first=Hanna | last=Rosin | magazine=The New Republic | date=November 10, 2014}}</ref> he also contributed to [[Public Radio International]]'s (PRI) ''[[This American Life]]''.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=[[Washington Post]] | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/this-american-life-pulls-three-90s-era-stephen-glass-episodes/2012/03/29/gIQAoSwWjS_blog.html | title='This American Life' pulls three 90s-era Stephen Glass episodes | first=Maura | last=Judkis | date=March 29, 2012}}</ref>

=== ''New Republic'' work ===
Glass generally enjoyed loyalty from ''The New Republic'' staff.<ref name="Rosin 2014" /> But his articles often relied on unnamed or partially identified sources, and several of his pieces prompted denials from their subjects.<ref name="Folkenflik 2003">{{cite news | first=David | last=Folkenflik | url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2003-05-10-0305100257-story.html | title=Shattered Image | newspaper=[[Baltimore Sun]] | date=May 10, 2003}}</ref>

In December 1996, the [[Center for Science in the Public Interest]] (CSPI) was the target of a hostile article by Glass titled "Hazardous to Your Mental Health". CSPI wrote a letter to the editor and issued a press release pointing out numerous inaccuracies and distortions and hinting at possible plagiarism.<ref>{{cite letter | publication-place=Washington, DC | publisher=[[Center for Science in the Public Interest]] | url=http://www.cspinet.org/new/newrepb.html | last=O'Reilly | first=Kathleen F. | subject=Your article, Hazardous to Your Mental Health, Dec. 30, by Stephen Glass | recipient=the editor of ''The New Republic'' | date=January 8, 1997 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016213721/http://cspinet.org/new/newrepb.html | archive-date=October 16, 2007}}</ref> The organization [[Drug Abuse Resistance Education]] (D.A.R.E.) accused Glass of falsehoods in his March 1997 article "Don't You D.A.R.E".<ref name="Last 2003">{{cite magazine | first=Jonathan V. | last=Last | author-link=Jonathan V. Last | url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/311bcigd.asp?nopager=1 | title=Stopping Stephen Glass | magazine=[[The Weekly Standard]] | date=October 30, 2003 | access-date=September 16, 2007 | archive-date=2012-01-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106201659/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/311bcigd.asp?nopager=1 | url-status=dead}}<!--- https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/stopping-stephen-glass worked for me March 17, 2020 --></ref> In May 1997, Joe Galli of the [[College Republicans#College Republican National Committee (CRNC)|College Republican National Committee]] accused Glass of fabrications in "Spring Breakdown", his lurid tale of drinking and debauchery at the 1997 [[Conservative Political Action Conference]]. A June 1997 article called "Peddling Poppy" about a [[Hofstra University]] conference on [[George H. W. Bush]] drew a letter from Hofstra reciting errors in the story.<ref name="Last 2003" />

Through these allegations, ''The New Republic'' generally defended Glass; editor [[Michael Kelly (editor)|Michael Kelly]] even demanded CSPI apologize to Glass.<ref name=Bissinger /> Still, the magazine's majority owner and editor-in-chief, [[Martin Peretz]], later said that his wife had told him that she did not find Glass's stories credible and had stopped reading them.<ref>{{cite news | first=David | last=Skinner | author-link=David Skinner (journalist) | work=[[Washington Examiner]] | url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/picking-up-the-pieces-4570 | title=Picking Up the Pieces | date=October 31, 2003}}</ref>

==== Exposure ====
In the May 18, 1998, issue, ''The New Republic'' published a story by Glass (by then an associate editor) entitled "Hack Heaven", purportedly telling the story of a 15-year-old [[Hacker (computer security)|hacker]] who had penetrated a company's computer network, then been hired by that company as a security consultant. The article opened as follows,

{{blockquote|Ian Restil, a 15-year-old computer hacker who looks like an even more adolescent version of [[Bill Gates]], is throwing a tantrum. "I want more money. I want a [[Mazda MX-5 (NA)|Miata]]. I want a trip to [[Walt Disney World|Disney World]]. I want [[X-Men]] comic [book] number one. I want a lifetime subscription to ''[[Playboy]]''{{snd}}and throw in ''[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]]''. [[Jerry Maguire|Show me the money! Show me the money!]]{{nbsp}}..."

Across the table, executives from a California software firm called Jukt Micronics are listening and trying ever so delicately to oblige. "Excuse me, sir," one of the suits says tentatively to the pimply teenager. "Excuse me. Pardon me for interrupting you, sir. We can arrange more money for you."<ref>{{cite magazine | first=Stephen | last=Glass | url=http://penenberg.com/story-archive/hack-heaven/ | title=Washington Scene: Hack Heaven | magazine=The New Republic | date=May 18, 1998 | access-date=February 15, 2017 | archive-date=December 14, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201214101811/http://penenberg.com/story-archive/hack-heaven/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>}}

[[Adam Penenberg]], a reporter with ''[[Forbes]]'' magazine, endeavored to fact check the piece, in part to explain how "Forbes Digital had been scooped by a weekly political publication."<ref name="Penenberg 1998b">{{cite web | last=Penenberg | first=Adam L. | date=May 11, 1998 | title=Lies, damn lies and fiction | work=[[Forbes.com]] | url=https://www.forbes.com/1998/05/11/otw3.html}} Accompanying [https://www.forbes.com/1998/05/11/otw3b.html screenshot].</ref> Beyond Glass's story, Penenberg found no search results for "Jukt Micronics", and, when he made an inquiry to the [[California Franchise Tax Board]], the tax board reported back that no such company had ever paid taxes.<ref name="Penenberg 1998b" /> Penenberg also found that several other claims Glass made in the article appeared to be false: Glass claimed that law-enforcement officials in Nevada ran articles pleading with companies not to hire hackers, but Bob Harmon, Public Information Officer for the Nevada State Attorney General's Office, said no such ads ran.<ref name="Penenberg 1998b" /> Glass claimed that 21 states were considering a "Uniform Computer Security Act", which would "criminalize immunity deals between hackers and companies," but law enforcement officials and the National Conference of Commissions on Uniform State Laws were unaware of any such proposed legislation.<ref name="Penenberg 1998b" /> Glass claimed that there had been a computer-hacker conference in Bethesda, Maryland, sponsored by the "National Assembly of Hackers", but the ''Forbes'' team "could not unearth a single hacker who had even heard of this outfit, let alone attended the conference."<ref name="Penenberg 1998b" />

On Friday, May 8, 1998, ''Forbes'' presented its full findings to [[Charles Lane (journalist)|Charles Lane]], the lead editor of ''The New Republic''.<ref name="Penenberg 1998a">{{cite web | last=Penenberg | first=Adam L. | date=May 11, 1998 | title=Forbes smokes out fake ''New Republic'' story on hackers | work=[[Forbes.com]] | url=https://www.forbes.com/1998/05/11/otw.html}}</ref> Lane had, to that point, been unaware of potential issues with the article.<ref name="Penenberg 1998a" /> Lane had Glass take him to a [[Hyatt]] Regency Hotel in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], where Glass had claimed the computer-hacker convention occurred.<ref name="Folkenflik 2003" /><ref name=Bissinger /> He found that the hotel's layout did not match the story's description, the building in which the piece said the event took place had not been open on the supposed day of the conference, and the restaurant where the hackers supposedly had a dinner banquet afterwards closed in the mid afternoon.<ref name="Folkenflik 2003" /> Lane dialed a [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]] number provided by Glass and spoke with a man who identified himself as a Jukt executive; when he realized that the "executive" was actually Glass's brother, he fired Glass.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Terry Gross (Host), Charles Lane (Guest) | work=[[Fresh Air]] | publisher=[[NPR]] | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1509330 | title=Former editor of 'The New Republic' Charles Lane | date=November 17, 2003}}</ref>

Lane later said:
{{blockquote|We extended normal human trust to someone who basically lacked a conscience... We busy, friendly folks, were no match for such a willful deceiver... We thought Glass was interested in our personal lives, or our struggles with work, and we thought it was because he cared. Actually, it was all about sizing us up and searching for vulnerabilities. What we saw as concern was actually contempt.<ref>{{cite news | last=Lane | first=Charles | date=1 May 2004 | title=Charmed, I'm sure | type=Opinion | newspaper=Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2004/05/02/charmed-im-sure/1105938c-9c47-4c54-97f6-4d34c22b031c/ | access-date=14 May 2024}}</ref>}}

==== Aftermath ====
''The New Republic'' subsequently determined that at least 27 of the 41 articles Glass wrote for the magazine contained fabricated material. Some of the 27, such as "Don't You D.A.R.E.", contained real reporting interwoven with fabricated quotations and incidents,<ref>{{cite letter | first=Stephen | last=Glass | url=http://www.nationalfamilies.org/prevention/glass_letter.html | subject=RE: "Don't You D.A.R.E." - The New Republic, March 3, 1997, "Truth & D.A.R.E" - Rolling Stone, March 5, 1998 | recipient=Glen Levant, President, D.A.R.E. America | publisher=[[National Families in Action]] | date=January 25, 1999 | access-date=July 27, 2006 | archive-date=April 12, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412212641/http://www.nationalfamilies.org/prevention/glass_letter.html | url-status=dead}}</ref> while others, including "Hack Heaven", were completely made up.<ref name="Leung 2003" /> In the process of creating the "Hack Heaven" article, Glass had gone to especially elaborate lengths to thwart the discovery of his deception by ''TNR''{{'s}} [[fact checker]]s: creating a website<ref>{{cite web | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031223023451/http://www.penenberg.com/jukt.html | url=http://www.penenberg.com/jukt.html | title=Fake "Jukt Micronics" page | archive-date=December 23, 2003}}</ref><ref name="Penenberg 1998b" /> and [[voice mail]] account for Jukt Micronics; fabricating notes of story gathering;<ref name="Rosin 2014" /> having fake business cards printed; and even composing editions of a fake computer hacker community newsletter.<ref name="Leung 2003" />

As for the balance of the 41 stories, Lane, in an interview given for the 2005 DVD edition of ''Shattered Glass'', said, "In fact, I'd bet lots of the stuff in those other 14 is fake too. ... It's not like we're vouching for those 14, that they're true. They're probably not either". ''Rolling Stone'', ''George'' and ''Harper's'' also re-examined his contributions. ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Harper's'' found the material generally accurate yet maintained they had no way of verifying information because Glass had cited anonymous sources. ''George'' discovered that at least three of the stories Glass wrote for it contained fabrications.<ref name="O'Neill Karas 2011">{{cite news | url=https://www.cnn.com/2011/12/16/justice/stephen-glass <!-- http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/16/justice/stephen-glass/index.html --> | last1=O'Neill | first1=Ann | last2=Karas | first2=Beth | title=Trust me, an infamous serial liar says | publisher=[[CNN]] | date=December 17, 2011}}</ref> Glass fabricated quotations in a profile piece and apologized to the article's subject, [[Vernon Jordan]], an adviser to [[Bill Clinton]] when he was president. A court filing for Glass's application to the [[State Bar of California|California bar]] gave an updated count on his journalism career: 36 of his stories at ''The New Republic'' were said to be fabricated in part or in whole, along with three articles for ''George'', two articles for ''Rolling Stone'' and one for ''Policy Review''.<ref name="O'Neill Karas 2011" /> Glass also later wrote a letter admitting he fabricated the article he wrote for ''Harper's'' and the company retracted the story (the publication's first retraction in 165 years).<ref>{{Cite news | last=Hiltzik | first=Michael | date=December 15, 2015 | title=Stephen Glass is still retracting his fabricated stories — 18 years later | type=Opinion | url=https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-stephen-glass-is-still-retracting-20151215-column.html | access-date=September 26, 2021 | work=Los Angeles Times | language=en-US}}</ref>

Glass had contributed a story to an October 1997 episode of the [[NPR]] program ''[[This American Life]]'' about an internship at George Washington's former plantation and another to a December 1997 episode about time he spent as a telephone psychic. The program subsequently removed both segments from the Archives section of its website "because of questions about [their] truthfulness".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thisamericanlife.org/79/stuck-in-the-wrong-decade | title=Stuck in the Wrong Decade | date=October 10, 1997 | website=This American Life | access-date=September 28, 2020 | url-status=live | archive-date=March 8, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308145947/https://www.thisamericanlife.org/79/stuck-in-the-wrong-decade}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/86/how-to-take-money-from-strangers | title=How to Take Money from Strangers | date=December 12, 1997 | website=This American Life | access-date=September 28, 2020 | url-status=live | archive-date=March 8, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308150012/https://www.thisamericanlife.org/86/how-to-take-money-from-strangers}}</ref>

In 2003, Glass briefly returned to journalism, writing an article about Canadian [[marijuana]] laws for ''Rolling Stone''.<ref>{{cite magazine | first=Stephen | last=Glass | url=http://www.humanhemphealth.ca/Rolling_Stone_090403.html | title=Canada's Pot Revolution | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=September 4, 2003 | access-date=August 1, 2007 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120803120818/http://www.humanhemphealth.ca/Rolling_Stone_090403.html | archive-date=August 3, 2012 | url-status=dead}}</ref> On November 7, 2003, Glass participated in a panel discussion on [[Journalism ethics and standards|journalistic ethics]] at [[George Washington University]], along with the editor who had hired him at ''The New Republic'', [[Andrew Sullivan]], who accused Glass of being a "serial liar" who was using "contrition as a career move".<ref name=Slate>{{cite news | first=Jack | last=Shafer | author-link=Jack Shafer | url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/11/the-incomplete-contrition-of-serial-liar-stephen-glass.html | title=Half a Glass: The incomplete contrition of serial liar Stephen Glass | work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] | date=November 7, 2003}}</ref>

{{quote box|align=right|width=25%|quote=It was very painful for me. It was like being on a guided tour of the moments of my life I am most ashamed of.|source=Stephen Glass, reacting to ''[[Shattered Glass (film)|Shattered Glass]]''<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/movies/19CARR.html | title=Authors of their own demise; The real star of Stephen Glass's movie | work=The New York Times | first=David | last=Carr | date=October 19, 2003 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101128172936/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/19/movies/film-authors-of-their-own-demise-the-real-star-of-stephen-glass-s-movie.html | archive-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref>}}

==== Depiction in other media ====
In 2003, Glass published a fictionalized account of his time at the New Republic, the "[[biographical novel]]", ''The Fabulist''.<ref name="Kirkpatrick 2003">{{cite news | first=David D. | last=Kirkpatrick | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/07/books/a-history-of-lying-recounted-as-fiction.html | title=A History Of Lying Recounted As Fiction | work=The New York Times | date=May 7, 2003}}</ref> Glass sat for an interview with the weekly news program ''[[60 Minutes]]'' timed to coincide with the release of his book. ''The New Republic''{{'s}} literary editor, [[Leon Wieseltier]], complained, "The creep is doing it again. Even when it comes to reckoning with his own sins, he is still incapable of nonfiction. The careerism of his repentance is repulsively consistent with the careerism of his crimes".<ref name="Kirkpatrick 2003" /> One reviewer of ''The Fabulist'' commented, "The irony—we must have irony in a tale this tawdry—is that Mr. Glass is abundantly talented. He's funny and fluent and daring. In a parallel universe, I could imagine him becoming a perfectly respectable novelist—a prize-winner, perhaps, with a bit of luck".<ref>{{cite news | first=Adam | last=Begley | url=http://observer.com/2003/05/disgraced-journalists-novel-is-janet-malcolm-for-dummies/ | title=Disgraced journalist's 'novel' is Janet Malcolm for Dummies | work=[[New York Observer]] | date=May 18, 2003}}</ref>

A film about the scandal, ''[[Shattered Glass (film)|Shattered Glass]]'', was released in October 2003 and depicted a stylized view of Glass's rise and fall at ''The New Republic''. Written and directed by [[Billy Ray (screenwriter)|Billy Ray]], it stars [[Hayden Christensen]] as Glass, [[Peter Sarsgaard]] as [[Charles Lane (journalist)|Charles Lane]], [[Hank Azaria]] as [[Michael Kelly (editor)|Michael Kelly]] and [[Steve Zahn]] as [[Adam Penenberg]]. The film, appearing shortly after ''[[The New York Times]]'' suffered a similar [[plagiarism]] scandal with the discovery of [[Jayson Blair]]'s fabrications, occasioned critiques of journalism by nationally prominent journalists such as [[Frank Rich]] and [[Mark Bowden]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Ehrlich | first=Matthew C. | chapter=Fabrication in journalism: ''Shattered Glass'' | editor-first=Howard | editor-last=Good | year=2008 | title=Journalism ethics goes to the movies | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | isbn=978-0-7425-5428-3 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sIgPCSX8aoC&pg=PA26 | pages=19-34, at p. 26}}</ref>

=== Restitution efforts ===
In 2015, Glass sent ''Harper's Magazine'' a check for $10,000 – what he was paid for the false articles – writing in the attached letter that he wanted "to make right that part of my many transgressions...I recognize that repaying Harper's will not remedy my wrongdoing, make us even, or undo what I did wrong. That said, I did not deserve the money that Harper's paid me and it should be returned".<ref name=nyt2015>{{cite news | first=Ravi | last=Somaiya | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/business/media/stephen-glass-repays-harpers-10000-for-his-discredited-work.html | title=Stephen Glass Repays Harper's $10,000 for His Discredited Work | work=The New York Times | date=October 16, 2015}}</ref> Glass has stated he has repaid $200,000 to ''The New Republic'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Harper's'' and the publisher of ''Policy Review''.<ref>{{Cite web | last=Mullin | first=Benjamin | date=March 29, 2016 | title=Stephen Glass says he's repaid $200,000 to 4 magazines | url=https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2016/stephen-glass-says-hes-repaid-200000-to-4-magazines/ | access-date=September 26, 2021 | website=Poynter | language=en-US}}</ref>