Ten Days In A Mad-House

Ten Days in a Mad-House not only brought attention to severe abuses in mental health institutions but also pioneered a bold genre in reporting known as “stunt” journalism. Also called “immersion” journalism, this style involves reporters actively placing themselves in specific environments or adopting particular roles to directly experience and expose hidden truths. Nellie Bly’s approach—going undercover in an asylum to document conditions firsthand—launched a wave of investigative works grounded in direct participation, sparking public interest in reform and validating journalism as a powerful vehicle for social change. Her work’s popularity and impact opened doors for other journalists to similarly risk personal safety to expose societal injustices.

Stunt journalism became a highly effective means of capturing attention in the early 1900s, especially as society grappled with pressing social issues. In 1914, Djuna Barnes followed in Bly’s footsteps, examining the horrific practice of force-feeding in women’s prisons in her harrowing piece “How It Feels to Be Forcibly Fed.” Her work raised awareness about the treatment of suffragettes and highlighted the need for reforms in prison practices. Decades later, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich adopted immersion tactics to expose the struggles of low-income workers in her groundbreaking 2001 book