Would Stephen Glass get away with it today?

By April 1998, Stephen Glass had risen to moderate fame as a journalist for The New Republic Magazine. In addition to writing zany stories worthy of Hollywood cinema, he also had somewhat of a squeaky, sweet voice and appeared really humble and down to earth. Stephen was very likable, the kind of guy you could have a drink with. (Although he also appeared so wholesome that perhaps he doesn't drink). 

But as we all know, Stephen had a secret -- many of his articles were fictional. 

Would Stephen Glass be able to dupe his editors and readers today using social media? Let's have a good conversation about this. 

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I remember taking a news reporting class at Austin Peay State University in 2005, which is where I fell in love with journalism and discovered I was a natural at it.

Our teacher put on a movie called Shattered Glass. I was only half paying attention early in the movie. This was long before I got married and I was a young man sitting in class charming the young lady sitting next to me. Hey, that's what college boys do.

Eventually I saw that the main character in the film, Stephen Glass, was creating fictional stories and fooling his editors into printing them.

It wasn't just the fact that Stephen was conning people – to me the most fascinating things about the whole saga was that Stephen compiled false evidence to validate his sources. Fake emails, voicemails, people, newsletters, etc. He went through all of this trouble just to cheat.
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And he wasn't just cheating at his main job at the New Republic Magazine. He was creating stories as a freelance writer for Rolling Stone, Harpers, and other established publications. In one article he claimed to have witnessed a robbery in a taxi cab. In another he posed as a telephone psychic. Another story was about a church that worshiped former president, George Bush. The list goes on.

Also interesting is that Stephen did not initially admit to his wrongdoing...he kept creating new lies to back up his old ones, which is where his fake notes came into play. Throughout history, most fabricators (or con men in general) will submit and confess once they're backed into a corner. But not Stephen. Watching his downfall was like watching the sand drain in an hourglass. It was slow and entertaining but you knew it would happen.

However, Stephen Glass pulled off these shenanigans back in the late '90s. Technology and the internet hadn't sky-rocketed yet to the levels they are today. That begs the question – could Stephen have pulled off those lies and tricks today? I think the answer is more complex than a simple yes or no.

For starters, social media must be taken into account. Stephen could create profiles for “sources” on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it. Not only could he create fake people to quote, but he could create fake businesses on Facebook.

For example, let's say he wanted to prove the existence of Jukt Micronics today. If he doesn't overshoot the mark and call it a “big time software firm,” and instead say it's a small business just starting up, he could start a Facebook business page and get a fake phone number for people to call. He could also look up vacant properties and use this to “confirm” the address. 

Add to this how its possible to buy “likes” and “followers” for social media accounts to make your business look legit. If Stephen created a character with a youtube channel, he could buy “views” and “commenters.” Stephen could buy an "audience" for his characters and businesses to make them appear legit. If he really wanted Jukt Micronics to look like a hugely successful organization today, he could buy a huge "following" for the company and create profiles of people to be clients.
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Can you imagine if Jukt Micronics had one million followers? This would probably initially make the fake company look less suspicious.

Some sites would be easier to con people with than others. For example, a site like Twitter keeps private information to a minimum unless a person decides to tweet personal business. This would be an easy option for Stephen. Facebook may require more work, as people often put their employment history, lots of pictures and other information. But Stephen could definitely still pull it off, as many people do to “catfish” their victims.

Speaking of pictures, this could be one of the potential chinks in Stephen's armor. It's hard to create characters if they have to be photographed, especially if they're an important source for a news story.

Uploading a photo to google will indeed track other copies of the photo if they exist, and show you what website the picture is hosted on.

But all it would take for Stephen to do is browse through profiles of real people, especially foreign ones from social media that are not posted elsewhere online, and use them as “evidence.”

A recent photo of Mr. Glass

​If Adam Penenburg and Chuck Lane were to catch Stephen in a more modern era, it would take a lot more work. They could still catch him, but unless they wished to personally talk to these sources on the phone, they wouldn't have a quick option. Stephen's “sources” could easily text or email whoever felt they were dubious.

But also, if Stephen had the aid of social media, it's quite possible that no one would suspect any red flags at all.