Category Archives: ethics

Hey Lucky, get me rewrite!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by

My cousin in Memphis just told me she heard an episode of the classic series called “Night Beat” recently on a satellite radio show made up of golden age broadcasts. I told her she’d found one of my favorites, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adaptations, Chicago, columnists, Drama, ethics, reporters, writing | Leave a comment

What a reporter can do…

Posted on September 22, 2014 by

Clark Kent may have been Superman, but most of his early radio adventures opened with him hard at work as a newspaperman — in this case driving dangerously rain-soaked mountain roads in fog and hail to interview a scientist, on … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, ethics, Lois Lane, Superman | Leave a comment

Journalism ethics — love, war and flashbulbs

Posted on July 8, 2014 by

The short-lived 1948 radio series “Shorty Bell” was about a newspaper delivery truck driver who became a reporter, learning mostly from his mistakes, and from a crusty and sardonic editor rumored to have a heart of gold. This last episode, one … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, ethics, photographer, reporters, romance | Leave a comment

Reporter had spunk, but soup-opera didn’t last long

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

Jane Endicott, Reporter — premiere, January 5, 1942: I’ve had this short-lived series  tucked away on my “Soaps and Romance” page, although these adventures of a young woman reporter are not a typical soap-opera or romance series with cliff-hanger episode endings and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Drama, editors, ethics, journalism, women | Leave a comment

A young reporter’s ethical growing pains

Posted on April 10, 2014 by

Listening to more of Mickey Rooney’s unsuccessful “Shorty Bell” series from 1948 — after reading obituaries and tributes to him this week — I can’t help wondering what the audience wanted from his radio newspaper-journalism vehicle: A lighter family-friendly “Andy … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, editors, ethics, newspapers, reporters, stereotypes | Leave a comment

“I am not ‘in the news’…” — The Couple Next Door

Posted on June 18, 2013 by

Journalism students should find food for ethical thought in this encounter between a newspaper reporter and “The Couple Next Door.”  Prelude: Little Betsy got a bad mark at school; all the children laughed at her… and just for repeating something … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, 1960s, children, comedy, ethics, newspaper readers, reporters | Leave a comment

Lime with a twist: Violets, Violence and Recycled Radio

Posted on June 10, 2013 by

Here’s a special case of radio recycling, another Orson Welles’ script from “The Lives of Harry Lime,” turned into a “Europe Confidential” journalist-hero script a few years later, part of a pattern I began writing about some months ago. This … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adaptations, Drama, ethics, Europe, foreign correspondents, Orson Welles | Leave a comment