The Power of the Press

Cub reporter Clem Rogers is rescued from writing weather reports when word comes that the district attorney has been murdered, and he is assigned to cover the story because he is the only reporter present in the newsroom. In his excitement, Clem loses his press credentials, and consequently is barred by the police from entering the dead man's house. In search of another entrance, Clem goes to the back of the house, where he sees a girl climbing out the window. As he watches her drive away, Clem meets Van, who identifies her as Jane Atwill, the daughter of the reform candidate for mayor. Clem's scoop tarnishes Atwill's good name and results in Jane's arrest. Meahwhile, Van reports to his boss Robert Blake, the opposition candidate for mayor, who decides to protect his own reputation by sequestering his mistress Marie. Back at the newsroom, as Clem basks in his newly found acclaim, Jane, who has been released on bail, pays him an angry visit and convinces him of her innocence. After demanding a retraction from his editor, Clem is summarily fired and finds himself on a park bench when he sees Van, who warily pulls a gun in response to Clem's friendly tap on the back. Suspicious of Van's behavior, Clem follows him to Blake's office. Afterwards, Clem confides his suspicions to Jane, and in response, she gives him a file of photographs that the district attorney handed her before he died. Unable to identify any of those pictured, Clem feigns drunkenness and shows the file to Van, who surreptitiously removes the portrait of Marie. Upon discovering the missing photo, Clem calls Blake and pretends to be Marie's bootlegger with a case of liquor to deliver. An unwitting Blake volunteers Marie's address, but when the real bootlegger pays a visit to Blake, he realizes that he has been duped and orders Van to Marie's hideout. Meanwhile, Clem sneaks past Marie's guards and tricks her into revealing that Van murdered the district attorney. As Clem writes down Marie's statement, Van creeps up the stairs and pulls out a gun. In the ensuing scuffle, Marie grabs the gun, and Clem ties up Van. Clem then calls his story in to the paper, but before he can reveal the name of the murderer, Van disconnects the phone. In a race to beat the opening of the polls, Clem carries Van to the car while Marie decoys the guards. After a harrowing chase, Clem reaches the newsroom in time to file his story vindicating Atwill and write another story announcing his engagement to Jane.