In 1980, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke wrote a story titled "Jimmy's World," the startling tale of an 8-year-old "third-generation heroin addict" living in Washington, D.C.
Cooke's expose' captured several volatile issues in one tear-drenched package. "Jimmy's World" had drugs, race, poverty, "fast money and the good life."
In 1981, Cooke won the coveted Pulitzer Prize for journalism.
Fine and dandy -- except she should have won the Pulitzer for fiction.
"Jimmy's World" was a complete crock. Little Heroin Jimmy didn't exist. The Washington Post, its publisher, Donald Graham, and Cooke's editor, Bob Woodward, were all duly embarrassed when Cooke's fraud was exposed. Her Pulitzer was withdrawn.
Woodward (of Watergate fame) admitted he failed to confirm the story. "I believed it; we published it," Woodward said.
In 1973, The National News Council was created to serve as an "independent forum" for encouraging responsible journalism and investigating allegations of press misconduct. My mentor, Norman Isaacs (a Pulitzer Prize-winning editor), served as council chairman for five years. Major press organizations -- especially The New York Times -- dismissed the National News Council as superfluous, arguing it had a "chilling effect" on aggressive reporting. The council published a thorough study of Cooke's debacle -- an examination that was ignored by the great press powers. Shortly thereafter, in 1983, the council shut down, due to lack of support.
We now move from Jimmy's World to Capt. Jamil Hussein.
Now, if I were "writing hot" -- writing for sensational effect -- I would have led with the alleged Jamil's blazing claim: that six Iraqi Sunnis were dragged from a mosque in Baghdad last week, doused with kerosene and burned to death by a Shia mob. Four mosques were also (allegedly) burned.
The Associated Press ran the dousing story on Nov. 24, and the story was repeated worldwide. (I read it online in the International Herald Tribune, a publication owned by The New York Times.)
Sensational, "headline-generating" elements absolutely jam the story: gruesome savagery, mob action, chaos in Iraq.
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