On September 28, 1980, Washington Post publish a 42-paragraph heart-wrenching story that created an instant sensation, the 1980s equivalent of “going viral.” The story was reprinted around the country and around the world. The story was titled Jimmy’s World, written by Janet Cooke,a 26-year-old reporter for The Washington Post. Cooke was hired by the Washington Post to improve its coverage of the African American community. The story was about an eight-year-old boy in the District of Columbia, who is addicted to heroin. Shedding light on an often unseen world of addiction, poverty and misery. It was said to be based on interviews with the boy, his mother and his mother's boyfriend.
In this story she tells the reader that he had sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby smooth skin of his thin brown arms. She also said that he is a third-generation of heroin addict. Jimmy’s mother live in boyfriend “Ron,” is the one who introduce them to the drug. Jimmy and his mother lived in Ron’s house, a “shooting gallery” where junkies came regularly to buy and use heroin. She also noted that Jimmy wanted to be a drug dealer when he grew up.
After the story was published, it prompted a strong and immediate response in the city. The Mayor of Washington at that time of the Marrion Barry and Chief of Police Burtell Jefferson called for an all-out police search for the boy and to obtain medical treatment for him. However, the investigation was unsuccessful because the story turned out to be fake, there was no 'Jimmy'. The credibility of the story was questioned from the beginning, but the editors at the Washington Post stood behind Janet Cooke because they believed she was telling the truth.
“Jimmy’s World” made such an impact that on April, 13 1981 Cooke was awarded for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, two days later after a long interrogation by doubts editors, she finally broke down and admitted she had fabricated the whole thing. The Post uncovered its own embarrassing scam and honourably returned the Pulitzer Prize. Cooke, of course, left the paper, with apologies “to my newspaper, my profession, the Pulitzer board, and all seekers of the truth” she said. Donald E Graham, Washington Post publisher held a press conference and admitted to the story being made up. The paper then released a public apology.
After reading Janet Cooke case, I had not expected such an in depth scandal that not only affected the Washington Post, but the entire nation. I believe any honest person would know that the Cooke’s behaviour was morally wrong. From the very beginning of any journalism class, many if not all journalists are taught that they owe the public the truth, all the facts of a story, and they should be voiceless in their stories. Every journalist should know that lying is an unforgivable offense when it comes to writing stories. However, Janet Cooke was one of the journalist who didn’t followed the ethics in journalism. Janet Cooke broke journalistic and ethical rules when she created the character Jimmy. She went into such detail and presented him in such a way that he went from being a composite character to a real boy. Cooke presented quotes in a manner that implied she had interviewed an actual person. She also falsified quotes from experts, and created quotes from Jimmy’s family.
Though Cooke claimed to have been over-worked, and simply trying to please her editors, what she did is unforgivable in the journalism world. Not only did she bring suspicion to the Washington Post, but also the rest of the journalism community. As each time readers are confronted with mistakes in ethical judgment like Cooke’s, their trust in media waivers. Not only is it unethical, but if the decision is made to lie in article to give it more “color”, you are disrespecting your role to society, and what the public deserves to know. Cooke’s motivation for doing this in her article may be attributed to a number of things, regardless of the reason as to why she did it. Feeling pressure to do great in your career is not an excuse to go against the ethical practices that come with the job of being a journalist. Lying is the act of intentionally not telling the truth. It is nothing new. It has been around since the beginning of time. It is a basic common sense role every journalist should know before they commit to the job.
Moreover, she claimed she had studied at the Sorbonne University, had a degree from Vassar College and received an award from her previous job at the Toledo Blade newspaper. However, when editors at the Toledo Blade read her biography from the Pulitzer, they noticed discrepancies. Janet Cooke not only lied about Jimmy but Cooke’s also had lied to The Post about her credentials.
Cooke’s reputation as a reporter clearly go downhill after that. Benjamin C. Bradlee, the executive editor of The Post who had described Cooke as a ''pathological liar.'' Also, the resulting publicity had been too harsh. It is true that Janet Cooke had betrayed Bradlee’s trust and the readership of the newspaper and what happened with Cooke was a disappointment. She made a major journalistic mistake, but she’s a human being. Even though Cooke is a fraud, she had great writing and she was an excellent writer, at least the story brought attention to the issue of heroin addiction in the city but she used her skills in the wrong way.
Many people don’t understand that being a journalist is tough and sometimes can be harder than it seems. Janet Cooke learned that the hard way. Every journalist’s job need to tell all the facts, the truth, and inform the public as to what is going on in the world, “telling it like IT IS.” Those are the ethical practices of each journalist as the news is a trusted source to get information from.
Comments