Category Archives: ethics

What a reporter can do…

Posted on September 22, 2014 by Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

Jane Endicott, Reporter — premiere, January 5, 1942: https://ia600201.us.archive.org/7/items/Singles_And_Doubles_Singles_A-C/42-01-05xxxJaneEndicottReporter.mp3 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 … 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 Bob Stepno

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, sports, stereotypes | Leave a comment

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

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

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

Newspaper says Yale cheats; Merriwell to the rescue

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Last time it was scrappy Boston reporters heading for Connecticut to cover Yale-Harvard baseball. This week we jump to another sport and season, to watch an investigative New Haven newspaperman get the scent of a sports scandal for a Front … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 1940s, adaptations, ethics, journalism, newspapers, reporting, sports | Leave a comment

Clark Kent, super burglar or stupid bungler?

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Being on the side of truth and justice appears to have justified some “might means right” tactics in Clark Kent’s early reporting repertoire, including burglary, threats, assault and kidnapping. For example, in this sequence from the second year of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, Clark Kent, ethics, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, reporting, Superman | Leave a comment

Clark Kent, unethical sports reporter?

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“You’re a reporter, not a detective,” Perry White to Clark Kent. The month of March madness seems an odd season to be writing about football, but here goes — with a tale that demonstrates that there were sometimes shades of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, ethics, Lois Lane, Perry White, sports, Superman | 2 Comments

Wasp and Hornet — Journalistic Vigilantes

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Bob Stepno

It’s been a year since Seth Rogen’s “Green Hornet” movie did its violence to the legend of the old radio hero by that name, whose newspaperman secret identity might have been portrayed as more of a role model for journalism … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, crime, ethics, GreenHornet, journalism, movies, novels | Leave a comment