Lucas was right and still is.

I find this humorously ironic after watching "Shattered Glass", an alternate history film in which Charles Lane and Michael Kelly are depicted as honorable men who did their best to uphold journalistic standards while working for a well-intentioned liberal magazine. In fact, The New Republic is a racist crackpot publication whose owner has shown a seething hatred for dark-skinned people ever since he used his wife's money to buy it. Lane and Kelly were both dishonest shills for this rag and Lane only fired Stephen Glass when he became too embarrassing for the magazine. It says quite a lot that because of "Shattered Glass", Hayden Christensen's other films (including Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, Jumper and Awake) aren't nearly as fanciful any more.