Reporters, Journalists and Other Newshawks
“You dig me up a good yarn, brother, and I’ll kiss you.”
— Garry Dean, hard-boiled newshawk, chats up a source in Call the Lady Indiscreet (1946)
“Newspaper reporters are like dicks. Private dicks. Yeah, I know everyone loves the private investigator. But I look at it this way: A newspaperman is a P.I. who can spell.”
— Charles Aesop Farnsworth, editor, River City Blade
I admit that the distinction between private eye and a journalist is often 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. After all, 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; whereas 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 suspicious death or a political scandal, would qualify; but 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…
REPORTERS
- Dan Banion by Robert Finnegan (The San Francisco Journal)
- Alamo Barnes by Hugh Lessig (The Frisco Foil)
- Caitlin Bergman by August Norman (freelance)
- Dwight “Di” Berke by Carl G. Hodges (The Journal; sports)
- Robin Bishop by Geoffrey Homes
- Torchy Blane by Frederick Nebel (The Herald)
- Katie “The Duchess” Blayne by Whiman Chambers (The Sun)
- Sam Briscoe by Pete Hamill (New York World)
- Nick Burney by Edward Churchill (The Las Verdes Sentinel)
- Sully Carter by Neely Tucker (The Washington DC Metro)
- Johnny Castle by C.S. Montanye (sports)
- Frank Corso by G.M. Ford (Seattle Sun, freelance)
- Adam Cullen by David A. Poulsen (Freelance; formerly The Calgary Herald)
- Garry Dean by Paul Whelton (The Belle City Press-Bulletin)
- Peggy Delaney by James W. Nichol (The Toronto Tribune)
- Leo Desroches by Wayne Arthurson (The Edmonton Journal)
- Joe “Daffy” Dill by Richard Sale (The New York Chronicle)
- Fletch by Gregory McDonald
- Jack Gannon by Rick Mofina (The World Press Alliance)
- Danny Getchell by James Ellroy (Hush-Hush)
- Zsigmond Gordon by Vilmos Kondor (The Budapest Journal)
- Bart Hardin by David Alexander (The Broadway Times)
- Harker by Marc Olden
- Harrigan by Ed Lybeck (The New York Leader)
- Mike Hodge by David Mamet (The Chicago Tribune)
- Mira James by Jess Lourey (The Battle Lake Recall)
- Hank Janson by Hank Janson (The Chicago Chronicle)
- Hakeem Jinnah by Don Hauka (The Vancouver Province)
- Adam Jordan by Joseph Koenig (Real Detective)
- Lara Kelly by Sandra Ruttan (The Oakridge Ledger) (Connecticut)
- Kennedy by Frederick Nebel (The Free Press)
- Eldon Larkin by Vince Kohler (The South Coast Sun) (Oregon)
- Jimmy McDonald by Monte Collins and Julian I. Peyser (The Hollywood Evening Telegram)
- Jack McEvoy by Michael Connelly (The Rocky Mountain News, The Los Angeles Times)
- Joe Medford by Jimmy Starr (Hollywood)
- Johnny Métal by Léo Malet
- Carter Monk by Fredric Brown (The Daily Blade)
- Addison Francis “The Rambler” Murphy by Fred MacIsaacs
- Britt Montero by Edna Buchanan
- Liam Mulligan by Bruce DeSilva (The Providence Journal)
- 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)
- Quinn by Harry Carmichael (The (London) Morning Sun)
- Carroll Quint by Jerry Kennealy (The San Francisco Bulletin)
- Lee Raybon by Sterlin Harjo (freelance; Tulsa)
- Sensible Redhorn by Timothy Holter Bruckner (The Flashorn City Flashorn)
- Tom Reed by Rick Mofina (The San Francisco Star)
- Mary Roberts by Michael Lennox & George Zuckerman (Québec City)
- Carter Ross by Brad Parks (The Newark Eagle-Examiner)
- Joseph Rouletabille by Gaston LeRoux (Paris)
- Jane Ryland by Hank Phillipi Ryan (The Boston Register)
- Shona Sandison by Philip Miller (Edinburgh Post; later freelance)
- Picasso Smith by Hugh Lessig (The Frisco Foil)
- Randy Stone from radio’s Nightbeat (The Chicago Star)
- Joe Tinker by Donald Honig (The New York Daily News)
- Jerry Tracy by Theodore A. Tinsley (The Daily Planet)
- Lola Wicks by Gwen Florio (freelance)
- Jimmy Wing by John D. MacDonald (Palm City Record-Journal)
- Ray Wyatt by Rick Mofina (First Press Alliance Wire Services)
PHOTOGRAPHERS
- Gail Berke by Carl G. Hodges (The Journal; sports)
- Flashgun Casey by George Harmon Coxe (The Boston Globe, The Boston Express)
- One-Shot Harry Ingram by Gary Phillips
- Candid Jones by Richard Sale (The New York Chronicle)
- Kent Murdock by George Harmon Coxe (The Boston Courier-Herald)
- Jerry Wade by John L. Benton
- Leon “Bernzy” Bernstein by Howard Franklin (freelance)
COLUMNISTS
- Bill Brent/Lora Lorne by Frederick C. Davis (advice for the lovelorn; The New York Recorder)
- Johnny Lane by Dave Zeltserman (crime; The Denver Examiner)
EDITORS
- Danny Getchell by James Ellroy (Hush-Hush)
- Steve Wilson from radio’s Big Town (The Illustrated Press)
ONLINE
- Frank Corso by Frederick Zackel (Las Vegas City @ Nite)
TELEVISION NEWS & DOCUMENTARIES
- Lou Brick by George Mair (LA-based Capitol Broadcasting System)
- Alex Tanner by Anabel Donald (researcher for TV documentaries)
Respectfully compiled by Kevin Burton Smith. The photo is from The Public Eye (1992, Universal), which I’ll be doing an entry on some day.
