ethics – Newspaper Heroes on the Air: Recent Episodes
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Old-time radio's mild-mannered reporters & crusading editors wield the "flaming sword" of a free press
I’m finally catching up with the first year of “Big Town” with Edward G. Robinson… the long-running series that eventually adopted a “flaming sword” slogan paraphrased at the top of this blog. I have long been curious about the series’ 1937 subplot of managing editor Steve Wilson’s transition from profit-motivated scandalmonger to conscientious civic-minded crusader and racket-buster, as well as his increasing conflict with the Illustrated Press publisher, who disappears from later episodes.
When I last wrote about the series, only the first two 1937 episodes were available in public archives online, and only a handful of programs from Robinson’s five-year run as Illustrated Press editor Steve Wilson. Copies of those early episodes, long in the hands of collectors, have come and gone from publically accessible online archives that allow me to link to individual episodes here. The Old Time Radio Researchers Library has 53 episodes, but for on-site listening only, including almost 20 from the 1937-42 Edward G. Robinson era. Meanwhile, a YouTube poster has put together a composite of several early episodes:
With new stars, the series ran all the way to 1952, but Wilson’s later incarnation spent more time personally tracking down criminals than pondering journalism ethics or editing his newspaper, even if each program did have have an inspiring tagline, “The power and the freedom of the press is a flaming sword; that it may be a faithful servant of all the people, use it justly. Hold it high. Guard it well!” )
Another story, about a “Fake Accident Racket,” is listed as the sixth in the weekly series, dated Nov. 23, 1937 in the OTRR Library, collector Jerry Haendiges’ OTR Site episodic log of the program, and collector J. David Goldin’s Radio Goldindex database at the University of Missouri, which frequently share information.
The plot begins with managing editor Wilson ordering his city editor to make a more sensational front page “human interest” splash out of a hit-and-run story, because the driver is well-to-do and there is a traffic safety campaign going on. But his society-connected reporter Lorelei Kilbourne (Claire Trevor) convinces Wilson to dig deeper; she is a friend of the socialite accused in the alleged hit-and-run. The digging involves investigative techniques (surreptitious recordings) that would not meet the standards of today’s journalism ethics codes and courses, and would probably be illegal in many states, although to a 1937 audience they may have seemed quite “high tech” and ingenious.
The racket that Wilson and Kilbourne expose this time is a complicated one, involving a lawyer, a doctor, and medical fakery, as well as the usual racketeers faking personal-injury lawsuits or insurance claims. To complicate matters, the newspaper’s publisher wants the paper to promote the political career of the same lawyer who gradually appears to be involved in the fake accident and liability-insurance racket.
In the end, Wilson can assure the publisher that his candidate’s name and picture will be “all over the front page.” Listen to the program for the details.
Meanwhile, the serious consequences of newspaper sensationalism are also a theme of “Big Town,” as they were in “Five Star Final,” the film in which Robinson first played an increasingly conscience-stricken tabloid editor. In both that story and this one, someone commits suicide as a result of the newspaper’s investigations. In the film, innocent people die and the conscience-stricken editor quits his tabloid. In this case, the death is of a guilty party, and the editor presses on.
A 19th century cub reporter faces an extra challenge on a big story in the “Race to the Wire” episode of The Lone Ranger. His competition is the villainous Jay Collins, so mean he is rumored to have killed another … Continue reading →
An editor and “ace reporter” debated the news value and audience interest in a sensational murder case — versus coverage of the Korean War — in this December 1950 episode of “The Guiding Light” soap opera. http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Guiding%20Light/The%20Guiding%20Light%2050-12-19%20Newspaper%20Has%20Story%20About%20Murder.MP3 Joe Roberts of … Continue reading →
“I haven’t got a farm; I haven’t even got a windowbox,” the magazine columnist admits, when she realizes her habit of spinning fables about country living may destroy her career — just in time for the holidays. I wrote this … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Hopalong_Singles/Hopalong%20Cassidy%2051-05-12%20%28071%29%20The%20Bandit%20of%20Blackton%20Bend.mp3 Plenty of communication media here, as Hopalong Cassidy and his comedy sidekick California track The Bandit of Blackton Bend … The crime is a Post Office robbery and murder, while the editor of the financially-troubled local newspaper is too … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_45-12-10_505_Guest_Wife.mp3 “Guest Wife” was a 1945 film and corresponding Lux Radio Theater production, with foreign correspondent Don Ameche returning from India to collect something like a Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, as ethical as his reporting from India may have been, he … Continue reading →
When Ah, Wilderness, Eugene O’Neill’s comedy-drama about coming of age, was adapted for radio, Walter Huston starred as the newspaper-owner father whose poetry-besotted son is tempted by what passed for the wild side of life in 1906 Connecticut. https://archive.org/download/TheaterGuildontheAir/Tgoa_45-10-07_ep005-Ah_Wilderness.mp3 Theatre … Continue reading →
https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Gunsmoke_Singles/Gunsmoke%2052-07-26%20%28014%29%20Gentleman%27s%20Disagreement.mp3 In 1952, the first episode of the classic adult western “Gunsmoke” began with Marshal Matt Dillon dictating the text for a wanted poster to Mr.Hightower, Dodge City’s printer and newspaper editor. The enterprising editor had already snitched a tintype … Continue reading →
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 →
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 →
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 →