Who was Nellie Bly?

An American investigative journalist who pioneered undercover reporting and became internationally famous for a record-breaking journey around the world.

Background. Born Elizabeth Cochran in Pennsylvania in 1864, she began writing after sending an angry letter to the Pittsburgh Dispatch responding to a column arguing that women belonged in the home. The editor was impressed and offered her a job. "Nellie Bly" was a pen name taken from a popular song.

Frustrated at being confined to fashion and gardening coverage, she moved to New York and joined Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.

Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887). Her defining work, and one of the founding examples of undercover journalism. To investigate conditions at the Blackwell's Island asylum in New York, Bly feigned insanity convincingly enough to be committed — a genuine risk, since she had no guaranteed means of getting out.

Inside, she documented rancid food, contaminated drinking water, freezing conditions, forced ice baths, physical abuse by staff, and — most damningly — patients who appeared entirely sane, including immigrant women committed simply because nobody could understand them.

The resulting exposé caused a sensation, prompted a grand jury investigation, and led to a substantial increase in funding for the city's care of people with mental illness. It also demonstrated that undercover reporting could produce concrete institutional reform.

Around the World in 72 Days (1889–90). Inspired by Jules Verne's novel, Bly set out to beat the fictional eighty days, travelling largely alone by ship and train with a single small bag. She completed the journey in 72 days, 6 hours, meeting Verne en route, and became a global celebrity.

Later life. She married, took over her husband's manufacturing company, patented industrial designs, and returned to journalism to report from the Eastern Front in the First World War.