Ghost of a flea

Shattered Glass

I watched Shattered Glass as part of my on-going veneration of Chloë Sevigny. There was a fascination for a film portrayal of the New Republic and a freeze-frame mention of Andrew Sullivan, of course, but I was left with two thoughts. First, a paranoia about use of commas. Second, wanting to know more about one time editor Michael Kelly. Hank Azaria's version is entirely sympathetic. I had not put the name together with the man.

It is telling to watch the incredulity experienced by people thinking to fact-check mainstream journalism using the Yahoo! search engine and finding somethig is amiss. It has been so short a time since the gatekeepers of the press could be held accountable by their readers that it is small wonder we are only getting used to the idea. The point is only driven home by seeing something that has become a commonplace represented as something surprising. To my mind, it is "the internet", and not one (of all too many) mendacious journalists, that lies at the heart of the film. I am increasingly in favour of pointers by way of a best practice guide, if not a code of ethics, for bloggers doing journalism. But I am not all that worried about the institutionalization of what we are up to because whatever scoundrels are out there the blogosphere is fact checking their asses.

For those curious about the man who inspired the movie the second Google hit for Stephen Glass is "a tissue of lies", an index compiled by Rick McGinnis.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at August 19, 2004 08:57 AM

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