Stop the Presses!
Newsroom Eyes

I admit that the distinction, at times, between private eye and newshawk, is a tenuous one at best. Of course, not all journalists can be considered honourary PI's. But more than a few can. A lot depends on their attitude. But reporters do conduct independent and private (non-official) investigations for a fee, often as freelancers (on "spec").

So, for the purpose of this site, let's say that a journalist who could credibly come to investigate crime or otherwise make like a detective as a regular part of their job will be considered a private eye; wheras those who just happen to be journalists and end up investigating crime do not. for example, a crime or political reporter who looks into, say, a political scandal or a suspicious death, would qualify; the gardening columnist who stumbles over a body in the vicar's rose garden does not.

Not quite sure what I'm getting at? Check out the following newsroom eyes, all of whom I think qualify...

Journalists

• Dan Banion by Robert Finnegan (The San Francisco Journal)
• Alamo Barnes by Hugh Lessig (The Frisco Foil)
• Robin Bishop by Geoffrey Homes
• Torchy Blane by Frederick Nebel (The Herald)
• Sam Briscoe by Pete Hamill
• Frank Corso by G.M. Ford (freelance)
• Garry Dean by Paul Whelton (The Press-Bulletin)
• Daffy Dill by Richard Sale (The New York Chronicle)
• Fletch by Gregory McDonald
• Bart Hardin by David Alexander (The Broadway Times)
• Harker by Marc Olden
• Hakeem Jinnah by Don Hauka (The Vancouver Province)
• Lara Kelly by Sandra Ruttan (The Oakridge Ledger) (Connecticut)
• Kennedy by Frederick Nebel (The Free Press)
• Eldon Larkin by Vince Kohler (South Coast Sun - Oregon)
• Jimmy McDonald by Monte Collins and Julian I. Peyser (Hollywood Evening Telegram)
• Britt Montero by Edna Buchanan
• Billy Nichols by Eddie Muller (San Francisco Inquirer)
• Bob O'Hara by Gilbert Thomas (Hong Kong correspondent, Interconpress)
• Amanda Reed and Jake West by Keith Johnson (Crime World Magazine)
• Carroll Quint by Jerry Kennealy (The San Francisco Bulletin)
• Tom Reed by Rick Mofina (The San Francisco Star)
• Mary Roberts by Michael Lennox and George Zuckerman (Québec City)
• Picasso Smith by Hugh Lessig (The Frisco Foil)
• Randy Stone from radio's Nightbeat (The Chicago Star)

Photographers

• Flashgun Casey by George Harmon Coxe
• Kent Murdock by George Harmon Coxe

Advice Columnists

• Lora Lorne/Bill Brent by Frederick C. Davis (The New York Recorder)

Editors

• Danny Getchell by James Ellroy (Hush-Hush)
• Steve Wilson from radio's Big Town (The Illustrated Press)

Television News and Documentaries

• Lou Brick by George Mair (investigative reporter for the LA-based Capitol Broadcasting System)
• Alex Tanner by Anabel Donald (researcher for TV documentaries)
  

RELATED LINKS

• The Pulp Foil: Tales of Hardboiled Newsmen
  Home of The Frisco Foil, a newspaper that dedicated to "Truth and Mayhem and not always in that order." For those of you who miss the old days of two-fisted scribblers like Kennedy of the Free Press , you'll find all of Hugh Lessig's Picasso Smith and Alamo Barnes adventures here. A well-done, affectionate tribute to the hardboiled newshawks of the pulps. A site definitely worth bookmarking.