Hack Heaven Analysis

The New Republic is a journalist magazine that is mainly built of the writers Stephen, Catlin, Amy, Chuck, and Michael. Chuck gets a late night call from Marty to take Michael’s job, but Chuck did not seem to care because this could be an opportunity to take the company to a whole new level, although he did have some doubts at the beginning. The main goal of the publication magazine is being able to back all of their information up with reliable and truthful facts, they follow that by fact checking every article a writer begins to work on. The process of fact checking is questioned when an online hacker publication called Forbes Digital could not find any reliable information on the sources that are used in an article called, “Hack Heaven” by Stephen Glass. Stephen Glass then proceeds to try and invent the sources in this
popular article, to cover up the fact that he lied about all he put in it. In the film Shattered Glass, Stephen Glass is a journalist that shows ethical irresponsibility by creating articles that contain fabricated information and continues to do so because he cannot stop lying, Glass needs to have everybody's approval on what he does. Stephen Glass plays as the victim when he is caught lying in his article and continues to defend his lies by creating more lies. Stephen likes to play the victim role because he wants sympathy from his co-workers, even though he completely lied to them about only having a few lies in the article “Hack Heaven”, but he truly lied in all of his articles. Chuck did not want to fall into the sympathy line for Stephen, he did not want to be like everybody else and feel bad because he only believes what can be proven which is why their company does so much fact checking. Stephens lies begin to surface to people, but he continues to back up the lies with even more lies and it brings him to the point that he can not keep up with the lies and begins to have mental breakdowns. Stephen is so dedicated to proving his stories are real that he creates fake websites and voicemail boxes to show that the sources are real if editors question the story. Stephen leads Chuck on a crazy path to defend that the information he gives in his articles are real, Stephen repeatedly explains, “I don’t know what you’re talking about okay. Those are real people”(Shattered Glass). Stephen is willing to go the extra mile to show that his lies are true, but most importantly to save his reputation as an amazing journalist.
To no surprise, Stephen still continues to cover up false information with more lies because he wants his stories to be the best and that brings him to his demise. Stephen realizes that his crazy stories are getting a lot of attention and success. Stephen cannot stop lying because nobody has figured out that his stories are fabricated. An online magazine famously known as Forbes Digital, come across the article, “Hack Heaven” by Stephen Glass very peculiar and they begin breaking down the sources and trying to get information from them. “Hack Heaven” was the very first article that allowed Stephen to be caught in the act, but instead of coming clean he comes up with more lies to protect the lies of the article. Later in the movie, Stephen becomes consumed by his lies and does not know how to think logically by saying, “I didn’t do anything wrong chuck”(Shattered Glass). At the end of the movie, Stephen initially got suspended from the New Republic for two years. Immediately after the suspension he is fired because Chuck goes back over his articles and sees they are all fabricated. Chuck really wanted to fire Stephen because when he wanted answers he continued to lie to cover him up and kept playing the victim role as if what he did was not a big deal Consequently, the family and friends that are in Stephen’s life played a role in his dishonesty, they expected the best and nothing less from him when it came to journaling and this was a stress factor.
Stephen cares too much about what his peers and family think of him that he has to constantly get approval of their feelings, “Are you mad at me?”(Shattered Glass). Stephen feels like if he does not get approval for the decisions he makes then the people in his life will not accept him or love him anymore. Stephen’s childhood and family was very strict and particular on being successful in a “worthy career” which was not journaling according to his parents. His fellow peers and the major editors at the The New Republic look forward to Stephen’s obnoxious story interviews every week and that feeds into the idea that creating fabricated articles are okay as long as they love it. Stephen being an adult definitely knows wrong from right and the lies in his articles can not be brought onto anybody but himself. The people that work with him somewhat play a role in his lying as far as entertaining the idea of his stories that they do not know are
fake. Ethical irresponsibility should result in punishment; dishonesty on the level he presented is unheard of up until him. Stephen learned from his mistake because now none of the companies will hire him and people cannot trust him anymore. Writing was the main thing that made Stephen happy, besides other people’s approval and now he does not have either whether it be his friends, family, or past co-workers. According to the film, Chuck and the team of The New Republic decide that firing Stephen is the only route that seems logical, so he can work on his compulsive lying issue and become a better person in that aspect. The New Republic also felt that the only way they can make things better or at least to show they care is create a public apology and sign it. Chuck thought he would have to go in the morning and try to convince them that this is the ethical thing to do but it was already done. Consequences and an apology should result from someone’s irresponsible actions because this affects himself, his co-workers and mainly the company's credibility.