Shattered Glass

Stephen Glass is a reporter at The New Republic, where he has made a name for himself for writing colorful stories. His editor, Michael Kelly, is revered by the magazine's young staff. When David Keene (at the time Chairman of the American Conservative Union) questions Glass' description of minibars and the drunken antics of Young Republicans at a convention, Kelly backs his reporter when Glass admits to one mistake but says the rest is true.
Kelly is fired after he stands up to his boss Marty Peretz on an unrelated personnel issue, and fellow writer Charles "Chuck" Lane is promoted to replace him. Glass publishes an entertaining story titled "Hack Heaven" about a teenage hacker named Ian Restil who was given a lucrative job at software company Jukt Micronics after hacking into their computer system. After the article is published, Adam Penenberg, a reporter at Forbes Digital Tool, begins researching the story in order to discover how Glass scooped them. Penenberg is unable to uncover any corroborating evidence for Glass' story and brings his concerns to The New Republic.
Lane becomes suspicious when Glass cannot provide sources for his article and when the few pieces of concrete evidence are discovered to be a Palo Alto voicemail box and an amateurish website representing Jukt Micronics, where every call goes directly to voicemail. Penenberg and a colleague (Rosario Dawson) can find no proof Jukt or an Ian Restil even exist. Lane drives Glass to a hotel where the hacker convention supposedly took place. Despite frantic attempts at spin from Glass, Lane discovers that the convention room at the hotel was not open the day the convention supposedly took place and that the restaurant where they supposedly ate dinner closed in the early afternoon.
Glass finally admits to Lane that he wasn't actually at the hacker convention, but relied on sources for information. Lane is outraged, but proceeds cautiously after telling Glass that he wants the truth from now on. He suspends Glass, earning him the enmity of the staff reporters, who all like Glass; Caitlin Avey, Glass' friend and fellow writer at the magazine, is so angered she considers quitting. When a colleague calls Lane to express concern for Glass' state of mind, he also reveals that Glass has a brother in Palo Alto, and Chuck realizes the brother must have posed as the president of Jukt Micronics.
Glass pleads for another chance, but Lane orders him out of the office and takes his security access card. Searching through back issues of The New Republic, Lane realizes that much, if not all, of Glass' previous work was falsified. When an emotional Glass returns to the office, Lane fires him. Caitlin accuses Lane of wanting to get rid of everyone who was loyal to Michael Kelly, but he challenges her to act like the good reporter she is. He reminds her that half of the falsified stories were published on Kelly's watch and that the entire staff will have to apologize to their readers for allowing Glass to continue to hand in fictitious stories.
The following day, a receptionist wryly remarks to Lane that all this trouble could have been averted if the stories required photographs. Lane discovers the staff has written an apology to their readers. They spontaneously applaud their editor, signifying their unity. At a meeting with Glass and a lawyer, Lane is told the entire truth. Glass, in effect, admits that twenty-seven of the articles he wrote were fabricated in whole or in part. An epilogue reveals that Glass has decided to attend law school.

Question: What does Lane take from Glass when ordering him out of the office?
Answer: access card