Category Archives: journalism

Philadelphia wasn’t really the story, but radio kept telling it

Posted on August 13, 2011 by Bob Stepno

While not exactly a “journalism procedural,” the romantic comedy The Philadelphia Story does feature a reporter and photographer on the trail of a high-society wedding — with the reporter literally getting in over his head. (In the swimming pool, by … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, comedy, journalism, magazines, movies, newspapers, photographer, reporting, romance, sensationalism | Leave a comment

Foreign Correspondent tilts windmills in classic spy drama

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The 1940 Alfred Hitchcock film “Foreign Correspondent” was nominated for a half-dozen Academy Awards, which more than qualified it for a radio adaptation on Squibb’s Academy Award Theater radio series in 1946. (Actually winning an Oscar wasn’t required; in fact, … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, foreign correspondents, international, journalism, movies, propaganda, World War II | Leave a comment

Journalists cutting deals, keeping secrets

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Bob Stepno

https://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2038-05-24%20(0239)%20There%20Was%20A%20Crooked%20Man.mp3 Is a newspaper journalist the people’s watchdog or a government lapdog? How observant should a reporter be? And what should a city editor have for lunch? This Green Hornet radio episode, There Was a Crooked Man, is a place … Continue reading →

Posted in editors, ethics, GreenHornet, journalism, newspapers, publishers, reporters | 1 Comment

Sabra Cravat, Frontier Editor

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Bob Stepno

In both versions of the movie “Cimarron,” the visual spectacle of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush may have stolen the show. But in two radio adaptations, the story all belonged to Irene Dunne‘s portrayal of Sabra Cravat, frontier wife, mother … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, adaptations, cavalcade, editors, Hallmark, journalism, movies, newspapers, radio, women | Leave a comment

Deadline U.S.A. — radio edition of a classic newspaper film

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The movie poster gives you the general idea of the plot, but here is the radio version of a classic “heroic newspapermen” movie called Deadline U.S.A. (click to play or download the mp3 if a “player” icon isn’t visible below). … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, closing, editors, ethics, journalism, movies, newspapers, Pulitzer Prize | 2 Comments

A critical view of an irresponsible newspaper

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Bob Stepno

One of the strongest critiques of journalistic ethics to be heard on classic radio was broadcast by NBC Radio City Playhouse. The original radioplay Correction is a 1949 newsroom drama with a person hurt by a news story showing up … Continue reading →

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Press Warrior: Richard Harding Davis

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The title of this Cavalcade of America wartime episode, “Soldier of a Free Press” (1942), certainly describes Richard Harding Davis, star reporter from the Spanish American War through World War I. The radio broadcast’s brief biography of the most famous … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 19th century, foreign correspondents, international, journalism, newspapers, reporters | Leave a comment

Margaret Fuller’s fountain of firsts

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Updated: 2014 with a link to a new biography, and shifted to more printable “page” format with editing in 2020, as “Margaret Fuller, The Heart and the Fountain.” Margaret Fuller was an author, the first editor of the transcendentalist magazine … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, historical figures, Horace Greeley, international, journalism, magazines, reporters, women | Leave a comment

Anna Zenger: Romance or history?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Bob Stepno

These two episodes from Calvacade of America fall into a journalism category we might call “stories too good to check,” but they are still fascinating. Remember Anna Zenger (1949, Rosalind Russell) Mother of Freedom (1946, Ann Harding, Bill Conrad) The … Continue reading →

Posted in cavalcade, historical figures, journalism, newspapers, women | Leave a comment

Nellie Bly on the radio

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Bob Stepno

“1885… Women are coming out of the kitchen and invading fields hitherto considered sacred to the male of the species. One of these fields is the newspaper, and the spearhead of this invasion is a girl with big soulful gray … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, foreign correspondents, historical figures, journalism, newspapers, reporters, women | Leave a comment