Category Archives: reporters

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

This Press Photographer didn’t need pictures!

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Bob Stepno

… because he was on radio. The show began as “Flashgun Casey, Press Photographer,” although its later name “Crime Photographer” was a better description of its typical plotlines — more detective stories than journalism-procedurals. However, I love the film “Meet … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, magazines, newspapers, photographer, reporters | Leave a comment

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

Reporting tips: Lois Lane at work

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Here’s Lois Lane’s first on-air interview, in the episode about Stolen Fuel for the Atomic Beam Machine from the 1940 Superman radio serial. (Click the title to download an MP3 if a player icon isn’t visible.) As mentioned here last … Continue reading →

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

Meet Lois Lane, high-flying journalist

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Bob Stepno

… but bored by atomic energy Episode 7 of the Superman radio series introduced Lois Lane to the listening audience in February 1940, in a storyline titled, “The Atomic Beam Machine.” (Click to download mp3 audio from the Internet Archive, … Continue reading →

Posted in Clark Kent, Horace Greeley, Lois Lane, reporters, Superman, women | 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

Anne Royall, no cure for a “common scold”

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Bob Stepno

By Bob Stepno Start with a national banking scandal (how timely) and add a tough frontier-bred woman editor who keeps her pistols handy — except when lecturing the president of the United States on the pen being mightier than the … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, historical figures, reporters, 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

Rescuing the Tabloid Competition in Big Town

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Not only were newspaper reporters and editors cast as heroic characters in old-time radio dramas, they sometimes made heroic attempts to help the competition, no matter how bitter the rivalry. Perhaps that’s because they recognized newspaper journalism as a higher … Continue reading →

Posted in competition, crime, ethics, j-heroes, movies, newspapers, reporters, sensationalism | 1 Comment

Clark Kent vs. Horace Greeley: Heroic deeds on radio

Posted on February 13, 2011 by Bob Stepno

As mentioned in a separate episode or two, the 1940 radio introduction of Lois Lane had her greeting Clark Kent with a sarcastic remark comparing him to Horace Greeley (1811-1872), one of the previous century’s journalistic superheroes. That got me … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, Clark Kent, historical figures, Horace Greeley, newspapers, publishers, reporters | Leave a comment