Nellie Bly

Elizabeth Cochran, more commonly known by her pen name, Nellie Bly, paved the way for female journalists around the world in the 19th and 20th centuries through investigations exposing the horrors of a mental institution and a record-breaking journey around the world.

Cochran worked as a cub reporter at the Pittsburgh Dispatch, where she started using her pen name, reporting on issues impacting the poor and working women in the city.  Most of her early work was controversial because most women working for newspapers at the time wrote about topics like fashion and society.

After complaints about her reporting, Cochran was reassigned to cover those beats. Instead, she traveled to Mexico where she reported on the everyday lives of Mexicans.

Her biggest story came at New York World, where she got herself committed to an asylum. Her exposé on the conditions became “Ten Days in a Mad-House.” Cochran’s reporting led to much needed improvements being implemented in patient care. 

In 1889, she beat Jules Verne’s character Phileas Fogg, traveling around the world in just 72 days.

Bly is one of the few reporters ever featured on a U.S. postage stamp. The New York Press Club honors her memory with an annual award that recognizes the work of younger reporters.

— Julia Manchester