The Washington Post

==="Jimmy's World" fabrication===
{{Further|Janet Cooke}}
In September 1980, a Sunday feature story appeared on the front page of the ''Post'' titled "Jimmy's World" in which reporter [[Janet Cooke]] wrote a profile of the life of an eight-year-old heroin [[Substance dependence|addict]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/09/28/jimmys-world/605f237a-7330-4a69-8433-b6da4c519120/|title=Jimmy's World|author=Janet Cooke|date=September 28, 1980|newspaper=The Washington Post|page=A1|access-date=July 9, 2016|author-link=Janet Cooke|archive-date=August 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822081435/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/09/28/jimmys-world/605f237a-7330-4a69-8433-b6da4c519120/|url-status=live}}</ref> Although some within the ''Post'' doubted the story's veracity, the paper's editors defended it, and assistant managing editor [[Bob Woodward]] submitted the story to the [[Pulitzer Prize#Board|Pulitzer Prize Board]] at [[Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism|Columbia University]] for consideration.<ref>Bill Green (April 19, 1981), [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/04/19/the-players-it-wasnt-a-game/545f7157-5228-47b6-8959-fcfcfa8f08eb/ "THE PLAYERS: It Wasn't a Game"], ''The Washington Post'': ""I was blown away by the story," Woodward said. . . . "Jimmy" was created, lived and vanished in Woodward's shop. . . . Woodward supported the [Pulitzer] nomination strongly. . . ."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 [Woodward] or any other editor to review the authenticity or accuracy of stories that are nominated for prizes."" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526031337/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/04/19/the-players-it-wasnt-a-game/545f7157-5228-47b6-8959-fcfcfa8f08eb/ |date=May 26, 2021 }}.</ref> Cooke was awarded the [[Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing]] on April 13, 1981. The story was subsequently found to be a complete fabrication, and the Pulitzer was returned.<ref>Mike Sager (June 1, 2016), [https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/the_fabulist_who_changed_journalism.php "The fabulist who changed journalism"], ''[[Columbia Journalism Review]]''. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004133952/https://www.cjr.org/the_feature/the_fabulist_who_changed_journalism.php |date=October 4, 2018 }}.</ref>