Scandal Sheet (1939)

Jim Stevenson, publisher of a scandal mongering tabloid, takes pride in publishing only the news that's unfit to print. Stevenson attends the graduation ceremonies at Croft College, where he listens to graduating student Peter Haynes's impassioned speech on the virtues of journalism. After the speech, Stevenson offers Peter a job, which he readily accepts. Peter starts work at the newspaper, not realizing that he is Stevenson's illegitimate son. After a week on the job, Peter, unable to tolerate the paper's sensationalism, quits to take a job on a reputable newspaper. Meanwhile, Stevenson becomes the target of a reform movement gaining momentum in the city, and hires detective Bert Schroll to dig up some dirt on the leader of the movement. Instead, Schroll discovers that Peter is Stevenson's son and tries to blackmail the publisher. In a scuffle over the incriminating evidence, Stevenson accidentally kills Schroll, and while covering the story for his paper, Peter finds evidence proving that Stevenson is Schroll's murderer. Rather than tell the truth and thus ruin his son's life, Stevenson chooses to remain silent and is sentenced to prison for his crime.