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Looking Through the Glass From May 2000 EDITORIAL NOTE: This article was originally based on my on-line reading of Glass' original articles as they appeared in The New Republic; I had hoped to give readers a chance to see them for themselves. An alert TNR Online editor, who apparently picked up on a reference at Jim Romenesko's MediaNews.org, took the articles off. Click here to read the letter I received from TNR. Glass' articles can still be accessed through Lexis-Nexis. UPDATE: Read a comment on the controversy. UPDATE 2005: Right after I posted this story, it was picked up on Romenesko (Here's an image of his post). It was a great thrill; at the time I was totally fascinated by Romenseko's site (even from the period before he moved to Poynter) and I used to visit it over and over throughout the day. At the same time, I felt kind of sad that I revealed a hole only to see it closed. Such is the nature of the Internet: to reveal to one is to reveal to all. I would have never have imagined at the time that the Glass case would end up as a motion picture, let alone a good one. In retrospect, it seems that Adam Penenberg's unmasking of Glass represented one of (if not the) first times that the Internet trumped the old established print media. I also never would have imagined that a reputable media outlet would allow that shit to happen again. It was just over two years ago (May 11, 1998, to be exact) , that Forbes Digital Tool caught The New Republic's Associate Editor Stephen Glass in a blatant lie (Here is the story that did it.). His "Hack Heaven" story was fiction parading as fact. A scandal erupted: journalism lies again! Shades of Janet Cooke! The cases of Patricia Smith and Mike Barnicle followed. Glass stood as a symbol of something. But what? I bring all this up because Glass graduated this month from Georgetown Law School (Man, I hope he didn't have trouble turning in term papers). The occasion provides an opportunity to look back and ask the important question: Why the Hell did anyone believe this stuff? Jack Shafer (who moved to Slate from the Washington City Paper) asked this question in the subhead of a story: "Why did I -- vain skeptic -- fall for the too-good-to-be-true journalism of Stephen Glass?" But he never answers this fully. Shafer says that Glass built in lots of details. He says Glass turned in the kind of well-written work that editors want to believe. But did you ever read any of these articles? Let's take a visit to four pieces of fiction. All of these articles turned out to be false. (Unfortunately, "Hack Heaven" was taken off the Internet immediately. Many articles claimed that all of his work was taken off the Web, but that's not true. You just have to know where to look.) A brilliant parody of the cult of the Fed Chairman. A sample quote: "'When things go well, I hold the Greenspan picture between my two hands and say thank you,' says [trader] Mitchell, who was born Episcopalian but does not practice any religion. 'When things go poorly, I also take the photo in my hands and pray.' While praying, he tries to look directly into Greenspan's eyes -- 'that's how I feel the most connection.'" Glass captures a portrait of the Commission to Restore the Presidency to Greatness, one of the groups operating as part of Hilary Clinton's "vast conspiracy." The selling of gag novelty items related to Monicagate, including the talking doll that says, "I'm a good intern," "All hail to the chief," "I can fetch your mail," and "Whatever you want, Mr. President." Glass explores modern-day Thoreaus who have gone back to the land. A company called HDT will dump you in the wilderness and then keep an eye on you for only $25,000 a year. The Back to Eden organization argues about whether nudity is proper or not. Reading through his articles, I found that I didn't believe a word of them (Naturally, hindsight is 20/20, but then, I wear glasses). An investigation by TNR found that 27 out of 41 articles contained "a blend of fact and fiction." (Here is the apology from TNR's editors issued after the discovery.) The more I read Glass' work, the more fascinated I became. These pieces were clearly absurd. If you had slapped Christopher Buckley's name at the top, you would have felt free to laugh out loud. In 1991, Glass wrote an article for the Summer Pennsylvanian about homeless crack smokers in Philly; Glass describes them as forming a club, with matching hats and pins, and revering the work of Kenny Rogers. Now that Glass is back on the streets, and only 27 years old, I think it's time for a new move. Take all of your worst lies, your biggest and most outrageous fibs, and have them reprinted in one volume. Label it fiction. Cite the tradition of Hunter S. Thompson (You think anyone asks to see his notes?). Say proudly, "I am a professional liar. Aren't all the best writers?" Joe Klein felt the need to wear a mask when he turned to fiction, but you've already been unmasked. More Information: There are two great overviews to the work of Stephen Glass. The better one is Rick McGinnis' A Tissue of Lies: The Stephen J. Glass Index. It has a stunningly complete index to Glass' articles. Bob Brand also put together a page on Glass, which contains some article links that McGinnis missed. Also, here's an excellent look at Glass' early days at UPenn, from The Pennsylvania Gazette, his own alumni magazine. FOOTNOTE: For the title of this piece, I opted for a twist on Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass." The Glass case provided excellent fodder for headline writers. Here is a sample: "Shattered Glass," Breaking Glass," "Half Full of It," "Through a Glass Darkly," Stained Glass," "Glass Houses," and (a departure from obvious references) "Glass Dismissed." |