Pulitzer Prize winner and investigative journalist Lois Lane is the best in the business of uncovering the truth. When your coworker and husband can hear a pin drop a thousand miles away and fly to it in a matter of seconds, it can be hard to stand out in the competitive world of journalism, even in your own home! However, Lois has more than cemented herself as the best reporter in the DC Universe, thanks to her skills of deduction and her relentless pursuit of some of the world’s most powerful and corrupt figures. In many ways, investigative journalism is like detective work. Lois’ job entails going undercover, interviewing witnesses and suspects, following clues, and exposing criminals. Lois Lane showed that you don’t need superpowers or a cape to fight for truth and justice.
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Ever since her first appearance in 1939, Lois Lane has been a trailblazing reporter whose investigative skills can put even Batman’s to shame.
1) Easily Uncovers a Secret Mob Operation
In the 1940s, Lois often had to deal with the biases of the patriarchal workplace she was surrounded by. However, even when given fluff pieces under the assumption that she couldn’t handle “real journalism,” Lois’ initiative and powers of observation enabled her to still ferret out essential stories, no matter how narrow the scope of her assignment. When she was assigned to write a piece for the Daily Planet’s “Housewives Marketing” column and went to interview someone for the piece, she stumbled upon a business that was a front for the mob. Lois immediately dropped the column piece and instead investigated and reported on the illegal activities. Even when forced into gender roles, Lois finds a way to break free and prove herself as the brilliant journalist she is.
2) Exposes Luthor’s Clone
Superman isn’t the only person to defeat Lex Luthor. Lois Lane began investigating rumors that LexCorp was committing insurance fraud after the destruction of several LexCorp buildings was blamed on the monster Doomsday’s rampage through the city. Lois uncovered that Luthor had actually destroyed the buildings himself and blamed it on Doomsday to collect the insurance. Upon further investigation, Lois also discovered that the man in charge of LexCorp wasn’t Lex Luthor at all, but instead a clone that had replaced him after the real Lex Luthor’s supposed death. Crazed by Lois Lane’s investigation, the Luthor clone attempted to kill Lois by launching missiles at the Daily Planet, but Superman intervened, saving Lois, and the clone was subsequently arrested.
3) Refuses to Cave in to Fake News
In today’s world of misinformation, Lois Lane stands as an ideal for professional and ethical journalism. In the story arc “Absolute Power,” as part of her witch hunt targeting superpowered beings, Amanda Waller flooded every news outlet in the world with doctored videos of superheroes slaughtering civilians. As the new head of the Daily Planet, Lois is approached by an employee begging her to run these stories because every other news source is already beating them to the punch. Lois, however, refuses to publish unsubstantiated stories for the sake of hopping on a hot story that other outlets are chasing. Even when Waller hacks into the Daily Planet and spreads misinformation, Lois, remaining true to her journalistic standards and sense of fairness, joins the superhero resistance to stop Waller. Lois’s journalistic integrity makes her one of the most vigorous opponents of Waller’s regime.
4) Investigating President Luthor
From the very beginning, Lois knew that President Lex Luthor was up to no good. After President Luthor led the U.S. Army and Earth’s heroes to combat and defeat the all-powerful alien Imperiex, the world fell in love with him. However, Lois felt that something was amiss. She discovered that Luthor knew about Imperiex’s invasion in advance but didn’t tell anyone because he wanted to get the jump on the superheroes by already having a counterattack plan in place while they were still scrambling. The information Lois had gathered played a pivotal role in exposing the corrupt president’s illegal activities.
5) Uncovered a Conspiracy Orchestrated by Her Father
Lois was distraught when she was notified of the deaths of her father, General Lane, and her little sister Lucy in two separate incidents. However, Lois became suspicious as no remains of Lucy could be recovered. Upon investigating, she was captured by the U.S Government and brought to her father, who was still alive, along with her sister. It turned out that they faked their deaths as part of a plan to destroy New Krypton, a colony established on a nearby planet by the few Kryptonians that survived their original planet’s destruction. General Lane and Lucy’s motivation to destroy the colony was based on xenophobic paranoia. The pair would succeed in destroying New Krypton and killing all its citizens, but at the cost of Lois’ father’s life. Horrified by their actions, Lois exposed the conspiracy and destroyed her father’s legacy.
6) She Busts a Gang of Burglars Single-Handedly
In another of Lois’s earlier stories from the 1940s, she demonstrates her investigative drive and tenacity, even when assigned a seemingly insignificant story. While waiting at the police station to catch the latest breaking news, the cops play a joke on her and have her answer a call about a stolen piggy bank. Instead of being upset at the cruel prank, Lois decides to make the best of the assignment and follow up with the little boy whose piggy bank was stolen. Thanks to the boy’s description of the burglar, Lois figured out that the notorious crook, Harry Lars, was responsible for the burglary. Tracking Harry and his goons down, Lois discovered that they were planning to steal jewels from a museum. By knocking over some decorative suits of armor, Lois apprehended all three criminals. Her story was then published on the Daily Planet’s front page, proving once again that Lois Lane should never be underestimated.
7) Bringing Her Friend’s Killer to Justice
For a brief period, Lois left the Daily Planet to become a freelance journalist, allowing her to have more creative freedom in her writing. To pay for her apartment, Lois got three roommates who quickly became her friends. Sadly, one of her roommates, Kristin Cutler, was murdered. Lois was adamant about tracking down her friend’s killer. Lois deduced that Kristin was killed by her husband, Rick Gerard, a notorious mobster. To catch him, Lois had a piece published that insinuated that a detective knew who the killer was. Spooked, Gerard tried to have the detective killed, only to fall into Lois’s trap and end up being arrested by the police. Lois will always try to bring people to justice, especially those who hurt her friends.
8) Becoming a War Journalist
When you’re attacked by supervillains and monsters almost every day, reporting on the front lines at first might seem like a piece of cake. Lois is assigned to do a story on the U.S invasion of Umec, a DC Comics’ fictional country that’s an anagram for (Unnamed Middle Eastern Country). While Superman is busy off-world, Lois is left to fend for herself against terrorists and snipers and gets a real taste of how challenging and dangerous the job of a war correspondent can be. She even gets shot trying to pull a wounded marine to safety, but luckily, she survives. Her commitment to covering live war zones demonstrates the risks she is willing to incur to fulfill her professional journalistic role of informing the public and building public awareness about events, including horrific ones, occurring in the world.
9) Brings to Light the Issue of Kidnapping in America
Sometimes being a reporter doesn’t mean you catch the bad guy; sometimes it means bringing to light an important issue that the world needs to understand. The 1980s saw the “Missing Children Pandemic,” where there was panic over the perceived increase of child kidnappings across America. In 1986, the story “When it Rains, God is Crying,” Lois decided to do a story on missing children. Unlike many reporters who sensationalize these kinds of stories or exploit the victims to attract readers, Lois showed genuine sympathy and understanding for the people whose children were kidnapped and approached telling their stories with enormous sensitivity. Lois eventually published her piece, helping the citizens of Metropolis understand the dangers that threatened their children and develop empathy for what the parents of these missing children are going through.
10) Exposing the United States and Russian Governments
Like the best reporters, Lois Lane has no fear of challenging world powers to uncover the truth. In the topical storyline “Enemy of the People,” Lois uncovered two stories that revealed the level of corruption and cruelty that was commonplace in the governments of the United States and Russia. In America, she investigated how the government was separating illegal immigrant children from their parents and putting them into “care camps.” Not only does she expose the inhumane living situations of these camps, but she also reveals to the public that the camp owners paid off White House officials to fund this operation. Doing this resulted in the release and reunion of the children in the camps with their families. In Russia, Lois investigated her friend Mariska Voronova’s “suicide.” Of course, Lois learns that, in fact, the state murdered Mariska for speaking out against the Kremlin. Lois took on not one, but two of the most powerful countries in the world for the sake of truth and accountability. The courage and resolve that Lois exhibits in taking on tough stories and challenging the powers that be for the sake of the public good are hallmarks of her reporting. And, it’s what makes her not only the best but the standard by which all other investigative reporters and professional journalists should be judged.
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Image Courtesy of Big Finish Productions.
