Last night, I viewed Shattered Glass for the very first time. It was quite an experience, partially because I felt bad for the bad guy.
Now, I know several of you want to tar and feather me for that statement. Stephen Glass defecated on the face of serious journalism. He denigrated the values and the beliefs and the integrity of an entire profession. But was it entirely his fault?
What created a man such as Stephen Glass? What happened in his formation as a human and as a journalist to lead him to do such things? I think it is a mistake to call him a monster. I think it is a mistake to consider him an anomaly.
Let's consider him one of our students who isn't getting boundaries. One of our students who is getting away with it. After all, Glass WAS someone's high school journalism student...until he became an editor's worst nightmare and the scourge of the profession.
Here is a link to some lesson plans on teaching the movie...
http://www.hsj.org/modules/lesson_plans/detail.cfm?LessonPlanId=435&menu_id=&submenu_id=&module_id=2
After seeing all of the raised hands, I also was a bit embarrassed to have never seen Shattered Glass (or many of the other journalism movies mentioned this week. Oops!); however, I'm really glad I stuck around the other night to see it. I plan to purchase and show it to my Print Media Workshop students this coming year. If any of you have experience teaching this (or any of the other movies mentioned at the institute), I'd be interested in learning how you teach it/them.
ReplyDeleteI may also have to watch/buy some of the other titles as well!
Aaron Fitzpatrick
Freedom Area High School
Freedom, Pa