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Hannah Arendt -

Hannah Arendt was one of the most celebrated philosophers and reporters of the 20th century. Born to a Jewish family in modern-day Hanover, Germany, in 1906, Arendt survived the Holocaust, made a name for herself as a political activist and thinker in Europe, and would eventually come to work for The New Yorker after the war.

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Hannah Arendt -

Arendt secured her place as one of the most important journalists and political philosophers in one fell swoop with her coverage of the Adolf Eichmann trials in Jerusalem for The New Yorker. These reports would later be compiled into her seminal book, ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil.’

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Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward -

The dynamic duo of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward were responsible for uncovering one of the largest presidential scandals the United States has ever seen. The two young men were humble, aspiring journalists at The Washington Post working the police beat in the early 1970s, until they caught wind of a break-in at the Watergate complex.

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Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward -

What they heard was the beginnings of the scandal that would simply become known as “Watergate” and would lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The team would play a pivotal role in the reporting of the event and worked tirelessly to reveal as much as they could. It was through Bernstein and Woodward that the infamous FBI informant known as Deep Throat would communicate.

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Amy Goodman -

New York native Amy Goodman is arguably the busiest independent journalist working today. For more than 25 years, Goodman has hosted Democracy Now!, a one-hour independent news show that broadcasts live five days a week.

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Amy Goodman -

Goodman has traveled extensively in the name of independent journalism, including trips to East Timor where she acted as a conflict journalist. She also worked as an investigative journalist in Nigeria, which earned her the Right Livelihood Award in 2008.

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Herbert Block -

Perhaps the most famous political cartoonist ever is Herbert Block, known more commonly by his pen name, Herblock. Herblock started his career as a cartoonist for a Chicago newspaper in his early twenties, and won the first of his three Pulitzer Prizes by the age of 33.

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Herbert Block -

Herblock would work as chief editorial cartoonist at The Washington Post for 55 years, right up until his death at 91 years of age in 2001. Herblock’s cartoons were seen by nearly every citizen of the country for more than five decades. He is also credited for coining the term "McCarthyism.”

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Truman Capote -

Legendary author, journalist, playwright, and screenwriter Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1924. His lonely, isolated childhood would become the inspiration for many award-winning stories, but his biggest claim to fame is his journalistic work.

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Truman Capote -

In the 1960s, after catching wind of a strange family massacre in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, Capote, with the help of friend and fellow author Harper Lee, would proceed to spend six years documenting everything there was to know about the town and its residents, and reporting on every step of the investigation, trials, and eventual executions of the accused murderers. Capote published all these events in his book, 'In Cold Blood,' which was an instant classic and is considered to be the first non-fiction novel.

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Maria Ressa -

Maria Ressa is one of many fearless journalists fighting the spread of misinformation and standing up for the freedom of the press. A native of Manila, in the Philippines, Ressa is the co-founder of the Rappler news site, which has consistently spoken out against Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte.

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Maria Ressa -

In 2018, Ressa was charged with libel against Duterte and faced up to 60 years in prison. Thankfully, the case was dismissed by a court in 2021. That same year, Ressa, along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Nellie Bly -

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, born in 1864, would come to be known around the world and throughout the rest of history as Nellie Bly, one of the most fearless individuals of the 19th century.

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Nellie Bly -

Bly was a pioneer of investigative journalism. In 1887, she went undercover to investigate the treatment of patients within a notorious mental asylum in New York City. Bly spent 10 days inside researching after having herself committed as insane, and once released published a scathing article highlighting the deplorable conditions of the asylum, which sparked widespread calls for reforms and brought Bly a lifetime of fame and respect.

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Hunter S. Thompson -

One of just a few journalists to reach a superstar level of celebrity, Hunter S. Thompson is a household name. The founder of "gonzo journalism," Thompson represented the most dangerous and ludicrous aspects of field reporting.

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Hunter S. Thompson -

While his most famous work will probably always remain 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,' a critical look into the counterculture of the 1960s, his journalistic escapades also found him riding with the notorious Hell's Angels motorcycle gang for nearly two years.

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Joan Didion -

Joan Didion was one of the most popular and widely read journalists of the 1960s. Born in Sacramento in 1934, Didion would act as the nation's window inside the counterculture movement, through her numerous articles written for Vogue and her non-fiction book 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem,' published in 1968.

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Joan Didion -

Didion would go on to write countless other popular and visionary articles for major publications like The Saturday Evening Post and The New Yorker. Later in life, though, after the tragic and untimely death of her husband and only daughter, Didion's focus would turn inward and she would write a number of poignant books narrating her journey through grief.

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Ida B. Wells -

An indispensable figure of the early civil rights movement in America, Ida B. Wells dedicated her life to activism and journalism, and was also a founding member of the NAACP, along with W.E.B. DuBois and others.

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Ida B. Wells -

During the late 19th century, Wells' journalism was focused heavily on the rampant lynchings that were occurring across the nation, especially in the South. Her reports were self-published in her pamphlets known as 'Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases,' and these findings were republished in Black-owned newspapers across the nation.

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Gloria Steinem -

During the 1960s and 1970s, Gloria Steinem was a leading feminist figure and an active member of the civil rights movement. She organized a number of different activist groups and publications, helping entire movements build their platform and find their national voice.

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Gloria Steinem -

In 1971, along with a number of other feminist organizers, Steinem founded the National Women's Political Caucus, an organization that provides a platform and gives support to women seeking public office. Soon after, she began publishing Ms., the nation's first magazine geared towards women that emphasized women's rights and liberation, as opposed to fashion and cooking.

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Ed Bradley -

Ed Bradley's name was synonymous with journalism during the 1970s and 1980s. After a short career as a teacher in Philadelphia, Bradley relocated to New York City to work for CBS, who would send him to Asia to cover the conflicts in Vietnam and Cambodia, where he would sustain injuries from stray mortar shrapnel during his reporting.

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Ed Bradley -

Also with CBS, Bradley would become the first African-American White House correspondent, pen the award-winning CBS special report 'Boat People,' focusing on the plight of Vietnamese refugees, and cover Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. Later in life, he would join the staff of '60 Minutes,' where he would work on more than 500 stories and win no less than 19 Emmys.

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Rachel Carson -

Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, in 1907, Rachel Carson would go on to become one of the most influential authors, biologists, and conservationists in the history to the United States.

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Rachel Carson -

Her work published in The New Yorker during the early 1960s, later collected in the book titled 'Silent Spring,' showcased the devastating effects of the widespread use of pesticides and accused the chemical corporations of misleading the public and the American legislature to promote indiscriminate use of their products. Carson and her powerful work would kick-start the modern environmentalism movement.

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Frances FitzGerald -

Frances FitzGerald is an American war correspondent who wrote for the New York Herald Tribune, and was also published in the Village Voice and The New York Times Magazine.

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Frances FitzGerald -

FitzGerald won a Pulitzer Prize for her on-the-ground reporting in Vietnam, collected in her book 'Fire in the Lake,' which focuses on the war's effect on Vietnamese citizens and their culture. The book was critical of the United States' presence in Vietnam and was very influential on the public's opinion of the conflict.

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James Agee -

Celebrated poet, author, film critic, and journalist James Agee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1909. The multidisciplined writer was most famous in his time for his film reviews that were published in some of the nation’s largest publications.

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James Agee -

In a beautiful blend of photojournalism, field journalism, and prose, Agee and photographer Walker Evans published ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,’ a seminal work that focused on the lives of sharecroppers and tenant farmers in Alabama during the Great Depression.

Sources: (Britannica) (Biography) (New York University)

See also: Must-see movies themed around journalism

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