Janet Cooke
The pressure from the journalism world is at an all-time high and those who cannot take the pressure often “Cooke” ideas to alleviate the stress.
As a young black journalist in the early stages of her career Janet Cooke had co-workers and editors and the Washington D.C. area in the palm of her hand. She was articulate and sharply dressed with an impressive resume and she was hired as a feature writer for The Washington Post just after the New Year in 1980.
Cooke had ample amounts of stories published during her short time at The Washington Post and dreamed of goals any journalist would. A Metro reporter, Karlyn Barker, who knew and worked with Cooke at time, was interviewed after the truth had come out of her fabricated story. “She wanted a Pulitzer Prize in three years, and she wanted to be on the national staff in three to five years.” Barker said.
It’s been 32 years since the story ran on the front page of The Washington Post and still the scars left on the journalism world remain. “… the Janet Cooke debacle serves as a cautionary tale and a reminder of the solemn responsibility we carry as journalists,” said Michael A. Fletcher, a current writer for The Washington Post.
The story Cooke concocted was titled “Jimmy’s World” and it spread through the Washington D.C. area like wildfire. It embellished the life on an 8-year-old heroin addict as a product of his environment.
Concerned citizens were calling the police department and the story stuck such a nerve that the mayor was involved with a full-on police search to seek out and help this innocent little boy.
The damage was far from over as Cooke was nominated and won the Pulitzer Prize for the best feature story. The achievement was short lived as Cooke and The Washington Post gave back the prize two days later in light of Cooke’s’ confession of her fictitious story. Executive editor of The Washington Post, at the time of the Cooke humiliation, Benjamin Bradlee had this to say during an interview,
As a young black journalist in the early stages of her career Janet Cooke had co-workers and editors and the Washington D.C. area in the palm of her hand. She was articulate and sharply dressed with an impressive resume and she was hired as a feature writer for The Washington Post just after the New Year in 1980.
Cooke had ample amounts of stories published during her short time at The Washington Post and dreamed of goals any journalist would. A Metro reporter, Karlyn Barker, who knew and worked with Cooke at time, was interviewed after the truth had come out of her fabricated story. “She wanted a Pulitzer Prize in three years, and she wanted to be on the national staff in three to five years.” Barker said.
It’s been 32 years since the story ran on the front page of The Washington Post and still the scars left on the journalism world remain. “… the Janet Cooke debacle serves as a cautionary tale and a reminder of the solemn responsibility we carry as journalists,” said Michael A. Fletcher, a current writer for The Washington Post.
The story Cooke concocted was titled “Jimmy’s World” and it spread through the Washington D.C. area like wildfire. It embellished the life on an 8-year-old heroin addict as a product of his environment.
Concerned citizens were calling the police department and the story stuck such a nerve that the mayor was involved with a full-on police search to seek out and help this innocent little boy.
The damage was far from over as Cooke was nominated and won the Pulitzer Prize for the best feature story. The achievement was short lived as Cooke and The Washington Post gave back the prize two days later in light of Cooke’s’ confession of her fictitious story. Executive editor of The Washington Post, at the time of the Cooke humiliation, Benjamin Bradlee had this to say during an interview,