There are the occasional outliers—Shattered Glass (the story of fabulist former-New Republic associate editor Stephen Glass, starring Hayden Christensen)—but beyond the depths of television and documentaries, like the fifth season of The Wire (where Tom McCarthy, the director of Spotlight, played the resident fabulist journalist), and Laura Poitras’ gripping documentary on Edward Snowden, Citizenfour , pop culture is invested in portraying ink-stained wretches as noble fighters for the truth.