diff --git a/data-prepper-api/src/main/java/org/opensearch/dataprepper/model/event/JacksonEvent.java b/data-prepper-api/src/main/java/org/opensearch/dataprepper/model/event/JacksonEvent.java
index 363aeda714..9b5ae72b77 100644
--- a/data-prepper-api/src/main/java/org/opensearch/dataprepper/model/event/JacksonEvent.java
+++ b/data-prepper-api/src/main/java/org/opensearch/dataprepper/model/event/JacksonEvent.java
@@ -525,23 +525,27 @@ private JsonStringBuilder(final JacksonEvent event) {
             this.event = event;
         }
 
-
-        public String toJsonString() {
+        private JsonNode getBaseNode() {
             // Get root node.
-            JsonNode baseNode;
             if (getRootKey() != null && !getRootKey().isEmpty() && event.containsKey(getRootKey())) {
-                baseNode = event.getNode(getRootKey());
-            } else {
-                baseNode = event.getJsonNode();
+                return event.getNode(getRootKey());
             }
-    
+            return event.getJsonNode();
+        }
+
+
+        public String toJsonString() {
+
             String jsonString;
             if (getIncludeKeys() != null && !getIncludeKeys().isEmpty()) {
-                jsonString = searchAndFilter(baseNode, "", getIncludeKeys(), RETAIN_ALL);
+                jsonString = searchAndFilter(getBaseNode(), "", getIncludeKeys(), RETAIN_ALL);
             } else if (getExcludeKeys() != null && !getExcludeKeys().isEmpty()) {
-                jsonString = searchAndFilter(baseNode, "", getExcludeKeys(), EXCLUDE_ALL);
+                jsonString = searchAndFilter(getBaseNode(), "", getExcludeKeys(), EXCLUDE_ALL);
             } else {
-                jsonString = baseNode.toString();
+                // Some successors have its own implementation of toJsonString, such as JacksonSpan.
+                // In such case, the root key will be ignored.
+                // TODO: Need to check if such behaviour is expected.
+                jsonString = event.toJsonString();
             }
 
             final String tagsKey = getTagsKey();
@@ -562,7 +566,7 @@ public String toJsonString() {
          * @param filterAction Either to include (RETAIN_ALL or true) or to exclude (EXCLUDE_ALL or false)
          * @return a json string with filtered keys
          */
-        private String searchAndFilter(JsonNode node, String path, final List<String> filterKeys, boolean filterAction) {
+        String searchAndFilter(JsonNode node, String path, final List<String> filterKeys, boolean filterAction) {
 
             if (node.isArray()) { // for array node.
                 StringJoiner sj = new StringJoiner(",", "[", "]");