Natalie Hernandez
Dec. 17 2017
JRN 101
Jimmy’s World
Journalist are people who seek out the truth, and report on the truth to keep the public informed on the world around them. There are ethics that a journalist must follow and these principles include truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability; and when reporter Janet Cooke wrote Jimmy’s World, she violated these ethics.
Described by many as vivacious, intelligent and stylish, Cooke went from working at her hometown Toledo Blade paper to working for The Washington Post. She was recruited by Ben Bradlee, the executive editor of The Post when he saw her extensive resume. In her resume Cooke stated that she had a degree from Vassar College, a master's degree from the University of Toledo, knew various languages such as spanish and portuguese, and that she had received a journalism award during her time at the Toledo Blade. All things of these things would later be proven false.
Cooke started writing for The Post’s “Weekly” section, where she was extremely unhappy; even going as far as calling it the ghetto. It was also rumored that she did not have a good relationship with her editor, so she was desperate to move up at The Post. After getting wind that an 8 year old was being treated at Howard University’s drug program, she mentioned the story to her editor, who urged her to do more investigations and find the child.
When Cooke couldn't find the child, she decided she’d fabricate the whole story, as it was deemed a front page worthy story. Thus, Jimmy’s World was born.
Jimmy’s World depicted an 8-year-old boy who was a heroin addict. “Jimmy” was written to be a victim of the thriving heroin trade that happening low-income neighborhoods of Washington D.C. The article was infamous for it’s beautifully crafted imagery, with a attention grabbing lead. The article starts off describing Jimmy stating “Jimmy is 8 years old and a third-generation heroin addict, a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes and needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms.” It was thought that Jimmy had become a heroin addict after being introduced to the drug by his mother's live-in boyfriend.
The article was filled with troubling quotes and anecdotes about Jimmy’s troubled life. Once the article was published it was inevitable that people would be outraged, and would call for Jimmy to be removed from his current situation and helped.
The public called for Cooke to reveal her sources, and the story got the attention of D.C’s Mayor Marion Barry, city health officials and police officials. Cooke refused to name her sources in “fear of her safety” even though authorities were desperate to find Jimmy and prosecute the people who were giving him the drugs. The Post backed Cooke, stating it was her First Amendment right not to reveal her sources. After desperately trying to find the boy and failing at every turn, city officials declared the story a hoax.
Despite the controversy The Post’s editors submitted Cooke’s piece to be considered for a Pulitzer Prize. It ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for best feature writing despite being the center of controversy. This Pulitzer Prize was one the first ever awarded to an african american female journalist; Cooke felt triumphant.
This triumph only lasted a short while because once Cooke’s old employer, the Toledo Blade heard she won a Pulitzer they wanted to proudly publish a piece on their former employee. While writing their article on her success, reporters at the Toledo Blade noticed some discrepancies in the bio Cooke provided for the AP. After reviewing the resume Cooke submitted to The Blade they revealed that she lied to her new employers at The Post about her credentials. It was revealed Cooke had attended Vassar for a year, she had only received a bachelor's degree from Toledo.Once her employers at the Washington Post were informed they interrogated Cooke. It took her 11 hours to confess. Much to their dismay and embarrassment, Cooke revealed that Jimmy’s World in its entirety was all a lie; Jimmy did not exist and Cooke’s resume was a sham.
Jimmy’s World is a prime example of what not to do as a journalist, and it had a lot of impact on journalism, journalistic ethics, the way people were recruited and hired and lastly, how journalist were to handle their sources.
Being that Jimmy’s World was written in 1980, shortly after the Watergate scandal (where journalist famously used anonymous source “Deep Throat” as a source in their reporting of the scandal) it was accepted that journalist didn't have to reveal their anonymous sources. This practice was not well accepted after Jimmy’s World. Editors during the time started cracking down heavy on the sources journalist were using. According to journalist Mike Sager, publications like USA Today started declaring new policies in which reporters were required to share the identities of unnamed sources with an editor. This practice remains an industry standard, in order to avoid an instance like Jimmy’s World again. News organizations also started changing the way they hired people and they became more careful about reviewing what potential employees said in their resume.
Another thing that Jimmy’s World did was bring attention to the truth about conditions that existed in many inner-city regions of America. Places like Washington DC were being affected by drugs and cases like Jimmy’s. When people read Jimmy’s World it was terrifying to even fathom a child shooting up heroin. This eventually led people to advocate for stricter drug laws and also to clean up the streets, so no child would ever come to that.
The saddest impact Jimmy’s World was the impact Cooke’s fabrication had on African American journalist. Just breaking through discriminatory norms, many African American journalist were braced with the assumption that they too would fabricate stories like Cooke did. Political commentator Julianne Malveaux even telling Mike Sager,“It basically eroded the integrity of a cadre of African-American journalists who do street reporting. It made people look at people of color, and African Americans in particular, with more scrutiny. Janet Cooke gave white folks permission to be skeptical about black people in the newsroom.” African American journalist spent so much time overcoming boundaries only to be set back by one mistake of one reporter.
Overall, journalism is not about telling fictional stories, it is about delivering the truth. Journalist must report solely on facts and follow the ethical standards of journalism. While unfortunately Jimmy’s World is not the last story of fabrication in the journalism world, one can only hope future journalist learn what not to do.