“Media as a reliable source ”:

Argumentative Essay

by

Janna Frandrup

ENG 101, Section 12153

Dr. James Sanders

July 1, 2009
“Media as a reliable source”:

Argumentative Essay

The use of media as a reliable source has been tainted through scandal, such as Watergate and Janet Cooke. When stories sound unbelievable, they usually are. In 1981, a young aspiring journalist wrote a compelling story about an 8 year old boy. Jimmy was described as a third-generation heroin addict, a precocious little boy with sandy hair, velvety brown eyes, needle mark freckles, and the baby-smooth skin of his thin brown arms. Who could resist a story about this boy? The media could not. This story is one example of how the media we see, hear and read are unreliable sources of information. Once one reads Janet Cooke’s article “Jimmy’s World,” they feel empathy and sadness for this boy. The media allowed the public to see a lifestyle different than what we knew. It was said that the article was based on interviews with the boy, his mother and his mother's boyfriend. However, Cooke, the journalist wrote a hoax article about a young boy to get higher ratings and praise to receive the best prize a journalist can receive. Later, Janet Cooke, an African American journalist in 1981 was given a Pulitzer Prize for her article on Jimmy. The world believed this story. This story was published and printed on the front cover of the newspaper. The world was shocked and felt a sense of disbelief. In fact, the article prompted a strong and immediate response in the city. There was an assigned task force of police and social workers to help locate Jimmy, so he could obtain medical treatment. However, when it came apparent that Cooke had lied in her article, it prompted editors at the Post to question her more intensely over the Jimmy story. Post staffers, editors and reporters, doubted its facts since it was based mostly on anonymous sources. Cooke announced “what I did was wrong,” “I regret that I did it. I was guilty. I did it, and I’m sorry that I did it (Kurtz D1). I’m ashamed

Frandrup 2 that I did it.” Without a doubt, Janet Cooke felt guilty and apologized that the article was fraudulent. Clearly, it was too late and she was asked to resign her prize.
Unfortunately, the media was lied to as well. This means the public was too. Indeed, Janet Cooke returned the Pulitzer Prize she was awarded in 1981. This sent a warning flair that lit up weaknesses in the organizational culture. The Washington Post, which rewarded young talent for producing showy stories was now being questioned about its’ credibility. The incident humiliated the profession. It also questioned the ethics of the editors, who too were eager for the irresistible story and too lax in their approval of anonymous sources. Janet Cooke made other hard-working and dedicated writers “feel as awful as a stranger’s act possible could” (Britt 45). Nevertheless, Cooke was disgraced as a journalist and dropped out of the public eye for many years. Cooke moved to France for a number of years before returning in 1996. She briefly re-emerged in 1996 to tell her story to the magazine GQ.
Janet Cooke’s scandal is one of many which make the media an unreliable source of information. There are many other stories which are questioned because of their reliability. This story is just one example of what journalist will do to get the story, attention, and the end result, a job. Journalists like Janet Cooke produce great stories, but when stories are too good to be true, they usually are not. The News Media is not a reliable source of information. No reasonable person would suggest that a newspaper could meet its daily deadlines and operate a failsafe protection system against compulsive and clever liars on its staff. When safeguards are in place, they protect against reporters’ inadvertent inaccuracies and misjudgments, not their purposeful deceptions. However, the bulk of the blame for disgrace rests with the liars, not organizations that trusted them.

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References
Britt, Donna. “Janet Cooke and the Wages of Sin.” American’s Newspapers. 5 June 1996: 45. American’s Newspapers. NewsBank. Glendale Community College Library Media Center, Glendale, AZ. 23 June 2009.
Kurtz, Howard. “Janet Cooke’s Untold Story: 15 Years after Her Famous Hoax.” Washington Post 9 May 1996: StyleD1. Washington Post Staff Writer. NewsBank. Glendale Community College Library Media Center, Glendale, AZ. 23 June 2009.