Jimmy MacArthur is an infamous reporter employed by the New York Ledger famous for winning two Pulitzers.
History
He calls the police commissioner to do a story on the Special Victims Unit's Sergeant Olivia Benson and is given full access to her squad. He arrives early and meets Detectives Rollins and Fin, and exchanges stories with them while they wait for Benson. When she arrives, he tells her he is profiling her, then Jimmy makes plans with Benson to meet after work at a restaurant and she agrees.
When they meet for dinner, Benson talks about her time as a detective and her experience with William Lewis, mentioning her nightmares about him. Jimmy is about to write it down when Benson asks him to keep it off the record, which he agrees to do. He later accompanies her when Benson is called to the scene of Heba Salim's rape. He interviews the responding officers at the scene and calls out to the detectives, asking if this is a hate crime. He gets Heba's name from the officers and questions Heba's family about the crime. Confidential sources within NYPD lead him to believe that Heba lied about being raped. As Jimmy is interviewing street vendors, he runs into Fin and Detective Amaro, giving hints about his suspicion that Heba is lying but doesn't give up his sources. He interviews M.E. Melinda Warner and publishes an article with the headline "HOAX", inferring that Heba lied about the entire thing.
When Benson sees the headline, she barges into Jimmy's office and immediately tells him he is wrong about Heba. The two then argue over Heba's credibility. Benson demands to know his sources, but he refuses to give them up and she storms out of his office. He later argues with Reverend Curtis Scott and he walks away with the mob of Curtis' supporters jeering at him.
He later publishes another story about the rape with the headline "Rape, Lies, and Videotape". When Benson accuses Jimmy of printing a story beneficial to the Kemps because of their ties to the magazine, he is offended and retorts that if he was going to sell out, he would have done it a long time ago. He asks to interview Heba and Benson refuses, which Jimmy misinterprets as him being right. He makes several rude comments at Benson before telling her to leave.
Jimmy is later interviewed by TV reporter Katie Couric about the case and continues to slander Heba and SVU as Heba's rape trial goes on. He watches the trial and listens to the witnesses, silently realizing that Heba was indeed telling the truth. Benson berates him for destroying her credibility before she even testified and tells him he should publish a retraction, which he scoffs at. Benson leaves him after telling him what he did was no different from her rapists and is letting his pride get the better of him. He has a change of heart after Benson walks away and prints a story with the headline, "Penthouse Rape – How Jimmy Mac Got Played", detailing Heba's rape and how he was played by police sources into thinking she was lying.
After the case is resolved, Benson joins Jimmy for a drink, and he show her his last column for The Ledger. He writes about how Elias Kemp, Jr. raped Heba and pinned it on his best friend, making sure everyone knows what he did. Jimmy tells her that his career at The Ledger is done and he is probably going to retire. They then share a toast. (SVU: Criminal Stories)
Jimmy's career survives, however, and he continues to work for The Ledger despite his compromised reputation. Benson called Jimmy up on the drink she owed him and to get his help on a case. There, she gives him the story on Dr. Neil Alexander and how he raped his niece. Jimmy prints the story with the headline reading "Demon Dentist Rapes Niece". While this causes more victims to come forward, Benson is agitated as Jimmy told her he would leave the victim's name out of it. (SVU: Decaying Morality)