Adam PenenbergIf you call yourself an online journalist, and yet that name doesn’t immediately prompt a node of recognition - a smile, even - then it’s time to close your laptop and bow your head in shame.
Or at least head over
to Netflix
It was Adam Penenberg who, back in 1998, first forced traditional journalists to sit up and take online reporting seriously.
And he did so with a
double whammy: scooping them on a big story - a scandal that went to the heart of one of America’s journalistic institutions - while also exposing a rising star of print journalism as a hack and a liar.
The lying hack was New Republic wunderkind
Stephen Glass and the story of how Penenberg - then a reporter for ‘Forbes Digital Tool’ (now sadly swallowed by the
execrable Forbes.com) - exposed Glass’ fabricated reporting was subsequently made into a movie.
(Penenberg was portrayed in the movie by Steve Zahn while Glass was played by Hayden ChristensenWeirdly, Jonathan Chait was played by Chloë Sevigny.)
.