NELLIE BLY

The Original Investigative Reporter

One of the original investigative reporters was a woman named Nellie Bly. She became a world sensation with some of her reports.

Born Elizabeth Cochrane on May 5, 1864 in Cochrane Mills (Armstrong County), Pennsylvania, she went to school in Indiana, PA. Later, in Pittsburgh, she was hired by the Pittsburgh Dispatch after writing a letter of complaint on an article they had published. When she later appeared in person to complain and also asked for a job, the editor gave her a chance to write an article on a subject of her choosing. The subject the 18-year-old chose was divorce, something not usually talked about at that time. But not only was it published, she was offered a job on the paper.

The editor thought it best to change her name, and he named her after the Stephen Foster song Nelly Bly. She broke new ground investigating such subjects as divorce, poverty, tenements, and working conditions in steel factories. This kind of expose reporting was very unusual at that time, and the fact that she was a woman made it even more remarkable. She was sent to Mexico where she wrote a series of articles on the poverty in that country. This became the book Six Months in Mexico, and convinced Nellie that she was ready for New York

Bly was hired by the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. For her first assignment she faked insanity and got herself committed to an insane asylum. Here she exposed the terrible conditions in which the inmates lived, and the treatments they received. This series created a nationwide sensation and a demand for improved conditions, and Nellie Bly became an instant celebrity. She also exposed much political corruption, and caused many changes to be made. She did many other "undercover" assignments, as she investigated lives close to the heart of America's lower classes.

Her most famous exploit was an around the world trip she made as a publicity stunt, challenging the famous fictitous 80 day trip of Phineas T. Fogg, written by Jules Verne. She amazed the world by not only completing the trip, but doing it in only 72 days! No one - man or woman - had ever circled the globe with such speed, or had such a publicized trip.

During her career, Nellie Bly began the concept of investigative reporting, exposed many social evils, caused reforms to be made in many areas, and opened the field of journalism to women.