Janet Cooke

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Janet Cooke (born July 23, 1954) was an American journalist who became infamous when she won a Pulitzer Prize for a fabricated story that she wrote for The Washington Post.

In 1980, she joined the "Weeklies" section staff of the Washington Post under editor Vivian Aplin-Brownlee. To secure this post, she claimed to have a degree from Vassar College, an alleged stint at Sorbonne University and to have been the recipient of an award at The Toledo Blade newspaper.

In an article entitled 'Jimmy's World',[1] which appeared in the Post on September 29, 1980, Cooke wrote a gripping profile of the life of an 8-year-old heroin addict. She described the "needle marks freckling the baby-smooth skin of his thin, brown arms." The story engendered much sympathy among readers, including Marion Barry, then mayor of Washington DC. He and other city officials organized an all-out police search for the boy which was unsuccessful and led to claims that the story was fraudulent. Strangely, Barry claimed that 'Jimmy' was known to the city and receiving treatment.[2]

Despite growing signs of problems, the Post defended the veracity of the story and Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward nominated the story for the Pulitzer Prize. Cooke was named winner of the prize on April 13, 1981.

When the editors of the Toledo Blade, where Cooke had previously worked, read her biographical notes, they noticed a number of discrepancies. Further investigation revealed that Cooke's credentials were false. Pressured by the editors of The Washington Post, Cooke confessed her guilt.

Two days after the prize had been awarded, Washington Post publisher Donald Graham held a press conference and admitted that the story was fraudulent. The editorial in the next day's paper offered a public apology. Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward said at the time:

"I believed it, we published it. Official questions had been raised, but we stood by the story and her. Internal questions had been raised, but none about her other work. The reports were about the story not sounding right, being based on anonymous sources, and primarily about purported lies [about] her personal life -- [told by men reporters], two she had dated and one who felt in close competition with her. I think that the decision to nominate the story for a Pulitzer is of minimal consequence. I also think that it won is of little consequence. It is a brilliant story -- fake and fraud that it is. It would be absurd for me or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes." [3]

Cooke resigned, the prize was returned and the reputation of the venerable Washington Post was sullied. She appeared on the Phil Donahue show in January 1982 and claimed that the high-pressure environment of the Washington Post had corrupted her judgment. She claimed that her sources had hinted to her about the existence of a boy such as Jimmy, but unable to find him, she eventually just created a story about him in order to satisfy her nagging editors.

For a while after the incident Cooke worked as a salesclerk in Washington. She married a Washington lawyer and briefly moved to Paris with him, but the marriage failed and she returned in 1996. She moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan and became a salesperson again.

Cooke was the subject of an interview by Mike Sager, appearing in GQ magazine in June of 1996. Sager's article was republished in an anthology Scary Monsters and Super Freaks. The movie rights to her story were reportedly purchased for $1.6 million by Columbia TriStar Pictures, to be divided between Cooke (55%), Sager and their agents. The film has not yet been produced.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cooke, Janet (September 28 1980). "JIMMY'S WORLD". Washington Post: A1.
  2. ^ Bradlee, Benjamin C. (1996). A Good Life: Newspapering and Other Adventures. New York: Touchstone.
  3. ^ Maraniss, David A. (April 16 1981). "Post Reporter's Pulitzer Prize Is Withdrawn; Pulitzer Board Withdraws Post Reporter's Prize". Washington Post.

[edit] Sources

[edit] Additional Reading

  • Sager, Mike. Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock 'N' Roll and Murder. Thunder's Mouth Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56025-563-3.
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