SOB SISTERS:
THE IMAGE OF THE FEMALE JOURNALIST
IN POPULAR CULTURE

© Joe Saltzman and the IJPC

IJPC Experts Offer Their Top
Sob Sister Films,TV Programs and Fiction

Contributors:
• Joe Saltzman, director of the IJPC, USC Annenberg
• Richard R. Ness, Western Illinois University
• Howard Good, State University of New York at New Paltz
• Paul E. Schindler, Jr., the man behind www.schindler.org/movie/shtml

Howard Good's Top Sob Sister Films:

Howard Good, who runs the journalism program at State University of New York at New Paltz, has written more books on the subject than any one else including Girl Reporter: Gender, Journalism, and the Movies (1998); Acquainted with the Night: The Image of Journalists in American Fiction, 1890 -1930 (1986); Outcasts: The Image of Journalists in Contemporary Films (1989) and The Drunken Journalist: The Biography of a Film Stereotype ( 2000). (These books are available from Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, NJ.)

Loretta Young is Gallagher, reporter in
Platinum Blonde (1931)

Glenda Farrell is reporter Florence Dempsy in
Mystery of the Wax Museum, The (1933)

Jean Arthur is Louise "Babe" Bennett, reporter in
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Glenda Farrell is Torchy Blane, reporter, Morning Herald in
Smart Blonde (1937)

Barbara Stanwyck is Ann Mitchell, reporter, The Bulletin in
Meet John Doe (1940)

Rosalind Russell is Hildy Johnson, reporter in
His Girl Friday (1940)

Jane Fonda is Kimberly Wells, TV reporter-anchor, KXLA, Channel 3
China Syndrome. The (1979)

Holly Hunter is Jane Craig, producer, TV network news
Broadcast News (1987)

Geena Davis is Gale Gayley, TV reporter in
Hero (1992)

Julia Roberts is Sabrina Peterson, a cub reporter in
I Love Trouble (1994)

Drew Barrymore is Josie "Josie Grossie" Geller in
Never Been Kissed (1999)