Stephen Glass

Stephen Glass (born 1972) is a disgraced former journalist, now infamous for falsifying dozens of stories over his time at The New Republic magazine. Industrious and creative, he invented sensational accounts of drunken rapists at conservative conventions, absurd tales of teenage hackers, and other stories that had no backing in reality; he would eventually acknowledge that 27 of the 41 pieces he wrote for The New Republic had been fabricated either in part or in whole, with similar freelance lies also making their way into the pages of other big name publications like Harper's and the now-defunct George."Shattered Glass", Vanity Fair
==Background==
===Bullshit begins===
Glass was hired by The New Republic in 1995 as an editorial assistant, and was soon writing articles for them. His first noticeable article was one called "Taxis and the Meaning of Work," which had his first bit of fabrication, where he invented dialogue of a black taxi driver and a robbery scene in an article that had been largely factual up until then. As his coworkers and bosses were impressed, Glass began steadily cranking out pieces and slowly increasing the intensity of his inventions. They started out with relatively small bits in a piece that was essentially true, moving up to half-inventions, then to lies based on a small kernel of truth, until eventually he was creating pieces wholesale with no truth in them at all.
It's not that there weren't people who didn't notice the fabrications. There were, often from organizations and real people who happened to be part of the stories. The Center for Science in the Public Interest wrote a press release regarding the article "Hazardous to Your Mental Health," which showcased various inaccuracies and hinted that Glass had also committed plagiarism. D.A.R.E. pointed out falsehoods in Glass's piece "Don't You D.A.R.E." (Thanks for making us feel sorry for D.A.R.E., Steve!) "Peddling Poppy," a story about George H.W. Bush giving a speech at Hofstra University, drove Hofstra to write a letter attacking obvious fabrications about the speech. (They didn't challenge the especially absurd part Glass wrote about a "Church of George Herbert Walker Christ," dear lord.) Then his piece "Spring Breakdown," which was a lurid tale about College Republicans engaging in drunken rapes at the 1997 CPAC conference, brought forth a firebreathing denunciation from Joe Galli of the College RNC, who called it an absolute fiction.
Yet, through all of this, Glass's bosses at The New Republic backed him up. His-then superior, editor Michael Kelly, wrote angry letters to each person attacking the stories, and even demanded in CSPI's case that they write an apology to Glass. Owner and editor-in-chief Martin Peretz also gave his support.
Through all this time, Glass also began writing freelance articles for the likes of Harper's, Rolling Stone, and George, the political magazine founded by John F. Kennedy, Jr. Glass fabricated for them as well, most notably a piece in George calling Clinton White House adviser Vernon Jordan a sexual predator. Glass also became an editor and fact checker, hypocritically dressing down other writers for mistakes in their works.
===Exposure and downfall===
1998 was going to be a banner year for Glass, including a piece he wrote about a convention selling Monica Lewinsky memorabilia. But his piece "Hack Heaven", in the May 18 issue, about a 15-year-old hacker breaking into a software company's network and then being hired by them as a security consultant, as well as a convention of hackers where he bragged about his victory, drew a lot of suspicion. Adam Penenberg, a reporter for the emerging digital edition of Forbes, did some basic fact checking, finding that there was no company with the name Glass had used, and that there were no government employees matching the names of those Glass claimed were source about a law meant to prevent deals hiring hackers. These and many other notable problems made it clear the story wasn't up to snuff.
Penenberg called The New Republic's new lead editor, Charles Lane, to tell him of what he'd found. Lane became convinced that the story didn't hold up, especially when Glass was brought in on a conference call and couldn't provide anything substantive to corroborate it. Glass tried to sell his boss with tactics such as creating a phony website, having his brother set up an answering machine number and message for the fake company, and even taking Lane to the spot in Bethesda, Maryland, where the hackers' convention had supposedly taken place. None of it succeeded, and Glass was swiftly fired.
An internal investigation at The New Republic after the scandal broke determined that Glass had fabricated at least 27 articles in whole or in part during his tenure, and the other magazines likewise found stories that didn't hold up to scrutiny. Glass had no part in helping them discover which stories were juiced at the time, and said not a word of apology or explanation for years. Not until his later law license applications did he give a number: saying that 36 of his 41 New Republic articles were fake, as well as three for George, two for Rolling Stone, one for Harper's and one for Policy Review.
===Post-"Hack Heaven"===
In the years after the scandal, Glass wrote a fictionalized version of the affair, entitled The Fabulist, which just happens to be about a newspaper reporter who makes up stories to advance his own ."Stephen Glass, Disgraced Journalist, Seeks California Law License", L.A. Times The events of the controversy was also later depicted quite closely in the 2003 film Shattered Glass.
Glass has since completed law school, but has been repeatedly denied a license to practice law in both New York and California. He has appealed the latter decision to the California Supreme Court."Justices to Decide If Lying Journalist Is Fit to Practice Law", The Recorder A gifted liar, too much of one to be considered a lawyer. What a stretch.
==References==
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