Ishbel Ross

Posted: June 12, 2003

Ishbel Ross

Ishbel Ross (1895-1975) came to work for The New York Tribune after World War I, a rare breed of female reporter allowed to cover big stories, such as the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, for the front page.

Famed editor Stanley Walker praised Ross’ "unflustered competence" and said she "seemed to come closer than any of the others (female reporters) to the man's idea of what a newspaperwoman should be."

In 1933, Ross wrote the first history of female reporters, Ladies of the Press (Harper & Brothers, 1936).

In this excerpt, she describes her own breed of reporter, the "Front-Page Girl:"

"They are the front-page girls who somehow have weathered storms of prejudice -- the odd creatures who have been pictured as doing things only slightly more impossible than they all have attempted at one time or another. ...

"... She walks unscathed through street riots, strikes, fires, catastrophes and revolution, her press card opening the way for her. She watches government in the making, sees presidents inaugurated, kings crowned, heroes acclaimed, champions launched on the world. She has a banquet seat with the mighty. She travels far and wide in search of news, and uses every vehicle known to man. She sees a murderer condemned to death and watches the raw agony of his wife while he dies.

"Nine times out of 10 her day's work takes her to the fringes of tragedy. News visits a home most often to annihilate it…. The woman reporter must face harsh facts without any qualms about her business. She must be ready for such hazards as may befall her."

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