Nellie Bly's Impact On Society

Frederick Douglass once said, “Through conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read… It gave me the best assurance that I might rely with the utmost confidence [and learn how] to read,” (41). Douglass was known for being one of the most influential figures in America for being one of the few slaves to read; however, there is one other person who is an important figure in American history. Nellie Bly is an important American rebel, because of how she changed the newspaper industry for female writers.

By becoming a writer, Bly helped change the way men portrayed women during the Victorian era. When Nellie Bly started to work in a newspaper

When Nellie Bly went looking for a job, “no wanted to hire a female as a reporter,” therefore, she “devised the idea of getting herself admitted to New York’s insane asylum… and earned a permanent post at the World,” (“Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman”). Even when no male wanted to hire her for being female, Bly proves that a distinguished writer is not determined by gender, but by the risks and techniques they take when writing a story. In the insane asylum, Nellie Bly exposed the malpractices the medical team performed while she was there, and this caught the attention of the World newspaper company. The daring risks Bly took proved to male reporters that women are capable of taking on dangerous risks to capture an engaging story for the public. When she took a trip to Mexico to write about the living conditions there, “she almost got herself arrested,” but “Bly’s willingness to take personal risks… inaugurated a new kind of celebrity journalism,” (“Breaking Down Barriers”). Bly’s personality and abilities brought about a new style of journalism, which was the introduction of being a stunt journalist. This impacted not only inspiring female reporters who wanted to become a stunt journalist, it created a new type of journalism in American