Friday, September 9, 2011

MAL-journalism
Misuse, Abuse, Lack of Maintenance


I recall the warranty agreement for vehicles.  If your car died on you due to MISUSE, ABUSE, and LACK of MAINTENANCE, you’re going to offset your warranty. The Service Manager at the dealership won’t grant you any goodwill for your own mistake. You can only regret. So, you better take care of it –religiously and immaculately.

This echoes the wretched story of the journalist Stephen Glass. The artless rule of thumb of car dealers and manufacturers: Misuse, Abuse, Lack of Maintenance, mirrors the three ethical issues in his attempt-for-easy-fame story.

He misused his expertise in writing by fabricating stories in his articles for the New Republic magazine. All the more, he aimlessly tried to cover all his lies by another lie when he was caught off hand by Chuck Lane. Storytelling a lie, indeed. Pity was brooding over me upon watching the movie. Thank you to Christensen’s good portrayal, and for a few minutes I forgot about the heinous crime Stephen Glass committed.  

Nevertheless, this ethical issue of fabrication of information is something that we have to be careful and critical about. We have to be Chuck Lane of our own rights. I remember an activist telling me how we should investigate upon truth. He reminded me that not everything that we see or hear as fed on to us by the media is accurate.

In addition, he abused his colleagues and superiors by running out his great deceiving stories and ultimate goodie-two-shoes image so he could win their trust. What a creative storywriter he could be! Because he’s trusted by everyone, his works outdone the fact-checking department.

The weakness of the said department leads to the third issue of lack of maintenance. They weren’t able to preserve their authority over fact validation by letting his fabricated facts be published. It was such an ethical flop for the magazine company by allowing his partially/completely fabricated [27 out of 41] articles out in the ignorant eyes of the readers. Credibility—this is all but life for the company. And he washed it all out.

I commend the right judgment of my at-first unloved Chuck Lane [for replacing the good old Michael Kelly]. He just did what was expected of him. As the Service Manager of his company, he should really not grant any more goodwill for the vicious mistake of a fraudulent and abusive Stephen Glass.

Be like him?  Shattered, out of law’s warranty?            
 No way. 

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