[WorkingClassFilth]

Perhaps some FReeper can correct me here...

I believe there was a Black woman writing for the NYT within the last 20 years or so, that wrote an award winning (Pulitzer?) series of articles on the plight of an eight year old heroin addict.

Turned out to be totally bogus and made big news at the time. Anyone remember this?

[summer]

From the 2nd link in my above post:

...You see, I was around in the early 1980s, when Janet Cooke embarrassed The Washington Post with her made-up account of an 8-year-old heroin addict. Then, as now, the after-the-fact questioning proceeded along two main tracks: 1) How could the reporter have deceived so many smart people for so long? 2) What impact will the deception have on the prospects of other young black journalists?

One interesting point is the difference in the answers, then and now. In the days after Cooke had to give up her 1981 Pulitzer Prize, I found myself reassuring young black journalists and journalism students that they needn't worry about the Cooke affair. Janet, I told them,was one of a kind. She was a con artist who lied to advance her career, I said. It wasn't about race. ...

[summer]

This entire Jayson Blair matter reminds me of the following play, which was based on a true series of events in Manhattan:



The following info is from HERE.

According to the Small World Research Project, the phrase "Six Degrees of Separation" began after Harvard social psychologist Stanley Milgram sent 300 letters to randomly selected people in Omaha, Nebraska in 1967 with the instruction to get the letter to a single "target" person in Boston using only personal contacts. For the 60 letters that found their targets, Milgram gound that the average number of steps a letter took was around six.

In 1983, 19-year-old David Hampton [a black male]talked his way into the homes of well-off New Yorkers, including the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, the President of New York's public TV station and Leonard Bernstein, by claiming to be the son of Sidney Poitier. (Actor/director Poitier has six daughters and no sons.) During his exploits, he promised people positions in an upcoming film production of his father's, accepted spending money from his hosts, and burgled items from their homes.

John Guare [a NYC playwright] learned of Hampton's ruse through friend Osborne Elliott, who was also one of Hampton's victims.

Published seven years later, "Six Degrees of Separation" explores issues of identity, privacy, race, homophobia and celebrity status. The fictionalized account of Hampton's imposture was well-recieved, packing theatres in New York and London as well as winning a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, an Obie Award (Best Play) and Hull-Warriner Award (Best Play).

Hampton filed a $100 million civil suit in 1992 against Guare, the Lincoln Center Theatre, producer Bernard Gersten, publisher Random House, and film rights owner MGM-Pathe Communications for compensatory and punitive damages. The courts did not rule in Hampton's favor, but did place a restraining order against Hampton for repeatedly threatening Guare.

[summer]

ANd, only the NY Post has reported that Jayson Blair had a "gal pal" at the NY Post who has since left her position on the photo staff, and this woman's mom was close personal friends with none other than: the NYT's Howell Raines.

[summer]

I meant to type the NY TIMES here:

And, only the NY Post has reported that Jayson Blair had a "gal pal" at the NY TIMES -- who has since left her position on the photo staff, and this woman's mom was close personal friends with none other than: the NYT's Howell Raines.

[jscd3]

I believe there was a Black woman writing for the NYT within the last 20 years or so, that wrote an award winning (Pulitzer?) series of articles on the plight of an eight year old heroin addict.

You are thinking of a series written by Janet Cooke for the Washington Post. She won the Pulitzer prize. It was bogus, she had to return the prize, and she was banished from journalism. Different paper, same liberal principle...