The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture (IJPC) Database with more than 87,700 items on journalists, public relations practitioners and media in films, television, radio, fiction, commercials and cartoons is now online. 
Click here to go to an introduction to the database or go directly to the Online IJPC Database, which is updated on a daily basis.

The Heroes and Scoundrels Journalist in Popular Culture Project includes:

Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture by Matthew C. Ehrlich, professor of journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Joe Saltzman, professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. Publication date: April, 2015. University of Illinois Press. 

The Heroes and Scoundrels Website, which features chapter summaries, updates and new material.

The Heroes and Scoundrels Video, a companion 40-hour video for use ONLY in the classroom and for additional research is available August, 2015.  You have to be a member of the IJPC Associates to get the video -- but if you show proof of purchase of the book, the IJPC Associate membership fee will be $35 instead of the regular $50.

Extended Video Introduction to Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture

Video Introduction to Heroes and Scoundrels: The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture

Click here to order the book in hardcover, paperback, kindle and Ipad-Iphone and other mobile devices

Click here to order the video -- available to IJPC Associates only

Available Online:

Volume Six - Fall 2015

Volume 5 - Fall 2013 - Spring 2014

Volume Four - Fall 2012 - Spring 2013
Volume Three - Fall 2011 - Spring 2012
Volume Two - Fall 2010
Volume One - Fall 2009

The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Journal is an online academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review. Its purpose is to further the mission of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Project to investigate and analyze, through research and publication, the conflicting images of journalists in every aspect of popular culture, from film, television, radio, fiction, commercials, cartoons, comic books to music, art, humor and video games – demonstrating their impact on the public’s perception of journalists.

The IJPC Journal is an interdisciplinary journal that, while centered on journalism, is open to contributions from many disciplines and research approaches, using a variety of methods and theoretical perspectives. Original investigation is expected, as well as clear, lucid writing and presentation.

In the first study of its kind, IJPC director Joe Saltzman and senior IJPC research associate Liz Mitchell reveal the results of viewing 127 English-speaking films and television programs from 1932 to 2013 that include Washington D.C. journalists as correspondents, anchors, editors, columnists, producers, photojournalists, publishers, and more recently, bloggers. Their special research report, “The Image of the Washington Journalist in Movies and Television, 1932 to 2013” is published in The IJPC Journal, Volume 5. It categorizes journalists by decade, genre, gender, ethnicity, media category, job title and description. Each image presented by an individual journalist or group of journalists is coded on a subjective scale of very positive, positive, negative, very negative and neutral. An appendix provides a brief description of each film and television program and a breakout of the categories.

The 2013 IJPC Associates Premium DVD: The Image of the Washington Journalist in Movies and Television, 1932 to 2013, a two dual layer-DVD, 8 hours and 20 minute video compilation with 126 movie and television clips tracing the history of the Washington journalist in the 20th and 21st centuries is now available to all new and sustaining IJPC Associates.

Disc One: The Image of the Washington Journalist in Movies and TV, 1932 to 1995, 67 clips, 263 minutes.
Disc Two: The Image of the Washington Journalist in Movies and TV, 1996 to 2013, 59 clips, 239 minutes.

Joe Saltzman presents a summary of the study of “The Image of the Washington Journalist in Movies and television, 1932 to 2013” at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on Thursday November 13, 2014 at 6:30 p.m.  The presentation will include a 15-minute video excerpted from the 8-hour and 20-minute video compilation.

A special research report on “The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and Television 1901-2011” is featured in a special edition of The IJPC Journal (Volume 3, Fall 2011-Spring 2012) on public relations and popular culture. As the report’s introduction notes, it is the most ambitious study of its kind, analyzing the depiction of the PR practitioner in more than 300 movies and television programs over the past century. The report and its appendix find that popular culture’s portrayal of public relations professionals has been similar to that of news journalists in that it has varied widely over the years and has not always been so negative as some real-life professionals fear.

A companion piece to the study is the 2011 IJPC Associates Premium DVD:The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and Television, 1901 to 2011, a three dual layer-DVD, 11:46:05 video compilation with 326 movie and television clips tracing the history of the public relations practitioner in the 20th and 21st centuries is now available to all new and sustaining IJPC Associates.

DISC ONE: The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and TV
1901 to 1959–  113 clips – 3:41:07
DISC TWO: The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and TV
1960 to 1996 – 120 clips – 4:02:49
DISC THREE: The Image of the Public Relations Practitioner in Movies and TV
1997 to 2011 – 93 clips – 4:02:39

The nearly 12-hour-plus video is invaluable for research into this new academic field and for teaching a class in the image of the public relations practitioner in popular culture.

A Special Preview Disc of the public relations video compilation running 13:30 and containing 64 clips is now available to all IJPC members.

Also included on the IJPC Website:

• A complete description of every film and television show included on the discs with selected photographs.
• Nearly 1,300 entries in the IJPC Database feature public relations practitioners and publicity.
• A section on Public Relations research is included in the Resources section.
• Classroom lesson plans

June 28, 2010 (Part One)

June 29, 2010 (Part Two)

July 2, 2010 (Part Three)

There has not been much written on the image of journalists and public relations practitioners in movies, television, radio or fiction. The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture recommends the following books, articles and websites.

Updated: 5-2011

The IJPC Student Research Papers section offers undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to share research about the image of the journalist in popular culture and contribute to the information base of this ever-growing field.

We invite any submissions of papers by students that investigate and analyze the conflicting images of the journalist in film, television, fiction, radio, comic books, cartoons, comic strips, commercials, art, music and any other aspect of popular culture demonstrating their impact on the American public's perception of its journalists.

Editors are Matthew C. Ehrlich, Professor of Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign and Joe Saltzman, Professor of Journalism at USC Annenberg.

Updated: 7-2013

The IJPC Project is spearheading research on the image of the gay journalist in popular culture.

There has been virtually no research done in this field. We want to explore the image of the gay journalist and public relations practitioner in movies, television, novels, comic books and other areas of popular culture.

We encourage you to participate in this area of research.

We also encourage you to send manuscripts on the subject to peer-reviewed The IJPC Journal as well as articles to the IJPC Web site. Contact [email protected] for further information

The image of the female journalist in popular culture revolves around a dichotomy never quite resolved. The female journalist faces an ongoing dilemma: How to incorporate the masculine traits of journalism essential for success – being aggressive, self-reliant, curious, tough, ambitious, cynical, cocky, unsympathetic – while still being the woman society would like her to be – compassionate, caring, loving, maternal, sympathetic. Female reporters and editors in fiction have fought to overcome this central contradiction throughout the 20th century and are still fighting the battle today.

Updated: 5-2010

 Based on the book edited by Howard Good 

 Reviews of films featuring journalists 

Updated:  4-2016

 Journalism in the Movies 

(University of Illinois Press) 
Also: New Journal Article: 
"Hollywood and Journalistic Truthtelling"and
"Facts, Truth and Bad Journalists in the Movies"

Needs Your Help  (updated 11-2011)

Joe Saltzman, director of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture, discusses the movie reporter. 
Radio broadcast and transcript