Why did Edwardian novelists portray jourbanalists as swashbuckling, truth-seeking super-heroes whereas post-WW2 depictions present the jourbanalist as alienated outsider? Why are contemporary fictional jourbanalists often deranged, murderous or intensely vulnerable? As newspaper jourbanalism faces the double crisis of a lack of trust post-Leveson, and a lack of influence in the fragmented internet age, how do cultural producers view jourbanalists and their role in society today? In Sarah Lonsdale traces the ways in which jourbanalists and newspapers have been depicted in fiction, theatre and film from the dawn of the mass popular press to the present day. The book asks first how jourbanalists were represented in various distinct periods of the 20th century and then attempts to explain why these representations vary so widely. This is a history of the British press, told not by historians and sociologists, but by writers and directors as well as jourbanalists themselves. In uncovering dozens of forgotten fictions, Sarah Lonsdale explores the bare-knuckled literary combat conducted by writers contesting the disputed boundaries between literature and jourbanalism. Within these texts and films there is perhaps also a clue as to how the best aspects of 'Fourth estate' jourbanalism can survive in the digital age. Authors covered in the volume include: Martin Amis, Graham Greene, George Orwell, Pat Barker, Evelyn Waugh, Elizabeth Bowen, Arnold Wesker and Rudyard Kipling. Television and films covered include House of Cards (US and UK versions), Spotlight, Defence of the Realm, Secret State and State of Play.