The press today doesn’t have the greatest reputation. Show the world one great piece of investigative journalism, and the world will show you a dozen more that fall under the category of “fake news.” Yet it wasn’t always this way. Not so long ago, fearless journalists spoke truth to power, risking their lives and reputations to change the way the world was run. These are some of the most impressive times when the press spoke truth to power, and, just occasionally, they succeeded.

Impressive Times of Press Courage

10 William Howard Russell Brings Home The Horrors Of War

William Howard Russell earned the dubious honor of being the world’s first dedicated war reporter. The hard‑drinking Irishman was dispatched by The Times of London to cover the Crimean War, a brutal 1853 clash that pitted Russia, Britain, France, Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire against each other and claimed nearly a million lives.

Beyond the expected anecdotes of drunken revelry and the famous Charge of the Light Brigade, Russell did something far more consequential: he sent home vivid accounts of the appalling conditions in which wounded soldiers were left to languish. He wrote that men died “without the least effort being made to save them” and that “the sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by the dying.”

The British army was furious. They tried to intimidate him, even burning down his lodgings, but Russell persisted. The public outrage his dispatches generated forced the army to overhaul its care for the wounded, paving the way for the revolutionary hospital reforms championed by fellow Crimean veteran Florence Nightingale.

9 The New York Times Takes Down Boss Tweed

Boss Tweed ran New York City’s Tammany Hall like a cartoonish empire of graft. He and his cronies siphoned off somewhere between $1 billion and $4 billion (in today’s dollars) through extortion, fake law firms, and Irish street gangs, all while sipping champagne and feasting on oysters.

The thing that finally toppled his reign? The New York Times. In the 1870s, co‑owner George Jones made it his personal mission to expose Tweed’s corruption. In 1871 he obtained a detailed breakdown of Tweed’s personal spending plans for public money.

When Tweed’s gang offered Jones the modern equivalent of $100 million to stay silent, Jones refused. He published the damning figures, and the ensuing public furor helped land Tweed behind bars in 1873.

8 Nellie Bly’s Undercover Reports From The Madhouse

In 1887 Nellie Bly decided that the best way to expose abuse was to become the victim herself. She got herself committed to Blackwell’s Asylum, a mental institution that, on paper, cared for the insane but in practice turned sane patients into madness.

During ten days of undercover observation, Bly witnessed nurses beating, choking, and even pulling hair from inmates. She also described a daily regimen that forced patients to sit on hard wooden benches, stare straight ahead, and refrain from speaking, moving, or sleeping – a routine that could drive anyone mad.When her exposé hit the newspapers, Blackwell’s tried to cover up the scandal by discharging patients and hiding evidence, but Bly’s story sparked a grand‑jury investigation that forever changed mental‑health care in America.

7 Ida Tarbell Takes On Standard Oil’s Monopoly (And Wins)

Ida Tarbell grew up watching the crushing of her father’s independent oil business by John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. Determined to exact revenge, she spent nearly three decades gathering evidence for a 19‑part series in McClure’s Magazine.

Her investigative masterpiece laid bare the ruthless tactics of Standard Oil: espionage, collusion with railroad barons, and blatant antitrust violations. Tarbell’s painstaking interviews and exhaustive document analysis painted a picture of a monopoly run like a criminal syndicate.

The public outcry forced the Supreme Court to dismantle Standard Oil, a victory that can be traced directly to Tarbell’s relentless reporting.

6 The Telegraph Does The Entire British Parliament For Fraud

In 2009 The Telegraph launched a modern‑day expose that would make Victorian muck‑rakers proud. The paper obtained a complete list of expense claims submitted by British MPs, revealing a litany of absurd purchases: flat‑screen TVs, jellied eels, home‑cinema systems, antique rugs, silk cushions, and even a house for a duck family.Perhaps the most scandalous revelation involved “second‑home flipping,” where MPs would alternately label their London and constituency residences as the “second” home to claim double reimbursements for mortgages and renovations.

The investigation led to eight MPs or peers being convicted of fraud and jailed, with dozens more forced to repay the public money they had siphoned. The swamp wasn’t entirely drained, but it certainly got a vigorous kick.

5 Seymour Hersh Exposes The My Lai Massacre

In 1968, U.S. soldiers under First Lieutenant William L. Calley entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai, ostensibly on a search‑and‑destroy mission. Instead of finding Viet Cong, they massacred civilians—estimates range from 109 to as many as 500 victims.

The initial military investigation was a white‑wash, but journalist Seymour Hersh was tipped off about a second inquiry. After interviewing Calley’s defense team, Hersh published a searing account that labeled the event a “murder.” The story ignited public outrage, further eroding support for the Vietnam War.

Calley was eventually convicted of murder, though he was paroled after less than five years. His delayed apology—coming four decades after the atrocity—underscored the lasting impact of Hersh’s reporting.

4 The Sunday Times Exposes The Drug That Crippled Children

Thalidomide was marketed as a sedative for pregnant women, yet it caused devastating birth defects, leaving thousands of children without limbs. By the early 1960s the manufacturers had already withdrawn the drug, but the compensation offered in the UK—£3.25 million—was a pittance for the 370 affected families.

Harold Evans, editor of The Sunday Times, launched a relentless campaign from 1972 to 1976 demanding accountability from the UK distributor, Distillers. The paper’s relentless coverage forced the company to increase compensation tenfold and eventually admit that proper trials had never been conducted.

The campaign reshaped drug‑testing regulations worldwide, ensuring that future medicines would undergo far stricter safety assessments.

3 The Daily Mail Demands Justice For Stephen Lawrence

In 1993 the brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, shocked London. Five white youths carried out the killing, but a racist police force bungled the investigation, allowing the perpetrators to walk free.

Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, took personal issue with the case. On Valentine’s Day 1997 he splashed the front page with the faces of the alleged killers under the headline “MURDERERS,” daring anyone to sue the paper if it was wrong.

The bold campaign sparked a massive public outcry, leading to a public inquiry into Metropolitan Police racism, the abolition of double‑jeopardy laws, and, in 2011, the life‑sentence imprisonment of two of the youths. The paper continues to push for the remaining three to face justice.

2 A Magazine You’ve Never Heard Of Breaks The Iran‑Contra Story

The Iran‑Contra affair saw the Reagan administration illegally sell arms to Iran and funnel the proceeds to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, violating the Boland Amendment. The scandal eventually led to fourteen indictments and eleven convictions.

Surprisingly, the story was broken not by a major U.S. outlet but by Al‑Shiraa, a little‑known Lebanese weekly. The paper uncovered the clandestine arms trades, prompting Attorney General Edwin Meese to launch a investigation that traced the missing funds to Nicaragua, exposing the entire operation.

The episode proves that even obscure publications can ignite massive political reckonings.

1 Watergate

Watergate remains the quintessential American scandal. After the burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, President Richard Nixon ordered a massive cover‑up, silencing witnesses and pressuring investigators.

The story was kept alive by two tenacious reporters at The Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Their relentless digging uncovered a web of deceit that eventually eroded Nixon’s support in Congress and forced his resignation to avoid impeachment.

Woodward and Bernstein didn’t just report the news; they wrested power from the highest office and reminded the nation that no one is above scrutiny.

The press may not always be popular, but stories like those on this list prove why we’ll always need courageous journalists.

Now that mega-producer Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men in Hollywood have been exposed, it has shed a lot of light on the secret side of the industry. If you’ve thought about becoming a huge star and being famous, you might want to reconsider your plans after finding out what it’s really like to live in the limelight. These are the 10 dark secrets that reveal the hidden truth behind Tinseltown’s glittering façade.

10 Dark Secrets Unveiled

11 For-Hire

If you look at a picture in a tabloid or on a gossip website, and it looks like the celebrity is posing in a staged photo, they probably are. In 2016, a photographer revealed that many celebs stage their pictures to have better control over their image. Kim Kardashian is one star who keeps her personal paparazzo on speed dial. She texts the photographer regularly and flies him around the world to photograph her. Kardashian reviews every image, and they’re heavily photoshopped before they’re sold to magazines.

Long before Kardashian had the paparazzi in the palm of her hand, Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag of MTV’s The Hills had a 50/50 agreement with a company named Pacific Coast News. They would pose for “cheesy over-the-top shots” that were then sold to magazines across the globe. Pratt called it “the best gig ever,” and he and Montag raked in over $1 million by selling their pictures. Celebs consider it a working relationship that’s mutually beneficial for everyone who’s involved, and their fans are usually clueless that the “candid” photos are carefully crafted before they’re ever released to the public.

10 Illegal Substances Are Allowed On Set

Sometimes, all it takes is an illicit drug for an actor or actress to put on their best performance. Tinseltown has been known to allegedly supply many A-list stars with a never-ending flow of their favorite vice.

Legendary actor Dennis Quaid revealed he had a “casual” addiction to cocaine before becoming a huge star. When he first moved to Los Angeles in 1974, he dabbled with the drug here and there, but things didn’t get out of control until he was booked to appear in mainstream films. He also revealed that cocaine was listed in movies’ budgets–disguised as “petty cash” to keep the drug-fueled sets a secret. He claimed the drug was freely given out on movie sets because it was the norm, and it was something that everyone was doing. Looking back on it, he called his cocaine addiction one of his biggest mistakes. The actor said being addicted to the drug caused his entire life to fall apart.

Even Jack Nicholson has spoken candidly about his drug use. In a 1980 interview, he said, “Drugs ain’t no big thing,” and he still loved to get high “about four days a week.”

9 Publicity Stunts

Hollywood is no stranger to publicity stunts, and there’s no limit to how far the industry will go to get the public’s attention. Back in 2014, there was a lot of talk about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian fighting for a spot on the cover of Vogue. When the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, finally decided to place them on the front page of the fashion magazine, she created an intense firestorm. Some readers threatened to cancel their Vogue subscriptions, calling Kimye disgraceful and inappropriate for the iconic publication.

Wintour later went on the record and said that no one would have batted an eye if the magazine had stuck with “tasteful” cover stars. But by placing West and Kardashian on the cover, she drummed up some much-needed publicity for the magazine. In the entertainment world, any kind of attention is good, even if it’s bad.

8 Eating Disorders

The pressure to look beautiful and thin has caused some stars to suffer from eating disorders. Being in front of the spotlight means they’re put underneath a microscope 24/7. Not only are they judged by their fans and the public, but sometimes their agents and managers can pressure them to drop pounds in unhealthy ways, too.

Demi Lovato remembered at the age of “2 or 3 years old,” she would look down at her belly and wonder if it would ever be flat. As she grew older, she struggled with an eating disorder and would relapse after difficult periods in her life. After breaking up with her ex, Wilmer Valderrama, she binged and purged because she missed him.

Actress Naomi Watts also revealed that she basically starved herself for a red carpet appearance, and plus-size model Ashley Graham said an agent waved $20 bills in her face and told her if she lost more weight, she could make “a lot more than this.”

7 The Casting Couch Is Nothing New

Long before the Harvey Weinstein scandal emerged, there were rumors about the casting couch—a term used to describe stars who are given roles in exchange for sexual favors. Megan Fox gave an interview to GQ and put the rumors to rest by laying out the cold, hard facts.

The actress said “Hollywood legends” would invite her to meet, and she would be so excited for the opportunity. Then, when she would show up, she would realize that the meeting was just a ploy. She said many of the men were able to get away with sleeping with a lot of girls in the industry, but she wasn’t one of them. She would shut them down immediately.

The history of the casting couch is lengthy, with many guilty of its use. An early “practitioner” was Louis B. Mayer, who co-founded Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1924. Mayer, the ground zero of this kind of abuse, had means, motive, opportunity, and that critical piece of the puzzle: the whip. If women didn’t comply, he’d threaten to ruin their careers or those of their loved ones. Sound familiar? “The perils for women in Hollywood are embedded, like land mines, from an actress’s debut to her swan song,” says film critic and historian Carrie Rickey, “where moguls like Harry Cohn reputedly wouldn’t cast starlets like Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak unless they auditioned in bed.”

6 The Mafia

Hollywood may be seen as a town full of glitz and lavish lifestyles, but it has a past history that’s anything but glamorous. In fact, there’s a much shadier side that many people are unaware of.

It has been rumored that a mobster named Mickey Cohen ran the Hollywood underworld. In 1950, Life magazine published an expose, entitled “Trouble in Los Angeles,” to focus on Cohen and his rampant organized crime units that ran the industry. This is one secret Hollywood would definitely like to erase and forget about forever.

5 Fixers Can Fix Anything

In a perfect world, a celebrity would stay out of trouble and have a successful career without any hiccups. But the truth is that accidents and sticky situations are a part of life. When things get too much for a celeb to handle, they call a fixer like Michael Sitrick to come to their rescue.

Sitrick has been a “spinmeister” in the industry for years, with a talent for twisting negative stories in the press into positive ones. He has worked for various popular clients, including David Lee Roth and disgraced NFL quarterback Michael Vick. Tackling controversy is his forte, and when a celeb is getting pounded by negative press, there’s no one other than Sitrick they’d want on their side. If a famous person has been caught in a comprising situation, and you suddenly see an influx of positive articles about them, it’s likely that Sitrick, or someone just like him, is hard at work.

4 Ageism

Ageism is alive and well in Hollywood, and some actresses feel the need to shave a few years off their date of birth. Margot Robbie received a ton of backlash when rumors about her true age began to pop up online. But did she have a good reason to lie? Perhaps.

An actress named Junie Hoang sued the website Internet Movie Database for revealing her true age. In her lawsuit, Hoang said, “In the entertainment industry, youth is king,” a simple way for her to accuse the website of ruining her chances of landing gigs by exposing her true age. She lost the lawsuit, but the case brought a lot of attention to just how rampant ageism is in Hollywood.

3 Cheating

Some actors spend the majority of their time filming on set. This means they’re away from their partners for long periods of time, and they’re spending even more time with their costars and the crew. It’s no surprise that some stars have a moment of weakness and end up cheating on their significant others. Some of the flings end as soon as the movies wrap, but others turn into juicy cheating scandals, full-blown relationships, and even marriages.

Angelina Jolie was labeled a homewrecker when she began a relationship with Brad Pitt on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston at the time, and their relationship crashed and burned when rumors of the affair were revealed. Aniston filed for divorce, and Pitt later married Jolie. Kristen Stewart is another star who got caught up in a cheating scandal. While she was dating her Twilight costar Robert Pattinson, she was caught making out with director Rupert Sanders on the set of their film, Snow White and the Huntsman. These cases are just two examples of the rampant cheating in the industry.

2 Love Child

Everyone was shocked when Eva Mendes managed to hide her growing baby bump from the public, but she has nothing on the celebs who have kept their secret love children away from the media. And sometimes, the kids are just as baffled as the rest of us!

It wasn’t until she was eight years old that Liv Tyler found out she was the biological daughter of Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler. Her mother was young when she gave birth to Liv, and the actress said there was a “bit of confusion” about where she came from for most of her life. She was forced to put the pieces of the puzzle together herself when she could no longer ignore the resemblance she had to the singer. While attending his concert, Liv took a glance at Steve’s daughter Mia, her half-sister who was born 17 months after her, and said it was “literally like looking at my twin.”

1 Child Abuse

Predators in the industry have been an open secret for decades, and finally, some of Hollywood’s top execs and stars have been outed for their alleged improper behavior with young children. Kevin Spacey was recently exposed for allegedly trying to take advantage of a young 14-year-old actor. Child star Corey Feldman has always been vocal about a top Hollywood figure abusing him when he was a teen.

In the wake of the Weinstein scandal, Feldman finally found the courage to name his alleged abuser on an episode of The Doctor Oz Show. Feldman accused actor Jon Grissom of molesting him back in the 1980s and said Grissom continued to taunt him and flaunt his alleged actions by keeping photos of the two of them on his Myspace page. This is just one case of alleged inappropriate behavior in the industry, and many believe that there are even more hidden secrets that will surely be exposed in due time.

Turning real‑life drama into cinema is a time‑honored trick of the trade, and the notion that fact can be stranger than fiction often fuels the fire. Yet, when we count the 10 movies based on actual events, many of them stray far from the source material in the name of entertainment.

Why 10 Movies Based on Reality Miss the Mark

10 The Imitation Game

This 2014 biopic follows Alan Turing, the brilliant code‑breaker recruited by MI6 during World War II to crack the Nazi cipher machine. The film captures the tension of his cryptographic heroics and the tragedy of his later persecution for homosexuality, making his story ripe for the silver screen. Yet the filmmakers slipped in a wholly invented subplot that muddies the historical picture.

In the movie, Soviet spy John Cairncross is shown as a member of Turing’s team, with Turing discovering Cairncross’s betrayal and being blackmailed over his sexuality. In reality, Cairncross did work at Bletchley Park at the same time, but they never shared a unit, and he kept to his own colleagues for security reasons. This fictional twist paints Turing as a potential traitor protecting himself, an ironic distortion for a film that aims to restore his legacy.

9 Young Man With A Horn

Young Man With A Horn (1950) dramatizes the life of jazz legend Bix Beiderbecke, though it takes considerable liberties. The real Beiderbecke is renamed “Rick Martin,” and while the film does touch on his alcoholism, it conveniently invents a romantic salvation that never existed.

Kirk Douglas portrays the trumpeter, falling for singer Jo Jordan (Doris Day), whose love supposedly rescues him from self‑destruction. The actual Bix died at 28 from years of heavy drinking, with no record of such a relationship. The movie adapts Dorothy Baker’s 1938 novel, which ends far closer to reality, showcasing Hollywood’s penchant for redemption arcs.

8 Birdman Of Alcatraz

The 1962 classic starring Burt Lancaster tells the tale of Robert Stroud, a murderer sentenced to life and confined to solitary. He discovers a sparrow at his window, nurtures a fascination with birds, and eventually becomes an ornithology authority, seemingly redeeming himself.

While Stroud’s conviction, isolation, and scholarly bird work are factual—he authored the respected Digest on the Diseases of Birds—the film overstates his moral transformation. In truth, Stroud never showed genuine remorse and remained capable of violence. Moreover, his avian research occurred at Leavenworth, not Alcatraz; once transferred, he was barred from keeping birds.

7 Churchill

The 2017 dramatization of Winston Churchill’s final hours before the D‑Day invasion drew fire from historian Andrew Roberts, who catalogued its many inaccuracies. Chief among them is the depiction of Churchill as a stubborn opponent of Operation Overlord up to the last moment.

Evidence from General John Kennedy’s diary shows Churchill had already resolved his doubts by the May 15 briefing. As both Defence Minister and Prime Minister, Churchill possessed the constitutional authority to veto the plan if he truly opposed it, underscoring the film’s departure from documented events.

6 Bonnie And Clyde

Iconic and groundbreaking, Bonnie and Clyde blends romance, comedy, and stylized violence, heralding the New Hollywood era. Yet it heavily distorts the historical record, especially in its portrayal of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer.

In reality, Hamer was a respected lawman who opposed the KKK and fought lynching. He never encountered Bonnie and Clyde before their fatal ambush, making the movie’s depiction of him as a humiliated, revenge‑driven buffoon a pure fabrication. The misrepresentation angered Hamer’s family, leading to a lawsuit that settled out of court.

5 The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness

The 1958 family favorite starring Ingrid Bergman and Robert Donat dramatizes British missionary Gladys Aylward’s work in pre‑World‑War II China. While casting choices—Bergman’s blonde looks versus Aylward’s dark hair—are obvious, the film also introduces a romantic subplot that never existed.

In the movie, Aylward abandons her missionary duties for a lover, Captain Lin Nan, and leaves the children behind. In truth, she remained in China, continuing her religious service until her death in 1970. Perhaps the most egregious liberty was casting a white English actor, Donat, as a half‑Chinese man.

4 Buster

The Great Train Robbery of 1963 offers fertile ground for a gritty tale, yet Buster opts for a light‑hearted, family‑friendly approach, narrated from robber Buster Edwards’ perspective and featuring pop star Phil Collins.Critics noted the film glosses over key facts, such as the violent assault on the train driver—a brutal act Edwards himself carried out, according to biographers. The movie’s sanitized tone sparked controversy; even Prince Charles and Princess Diana withdrew from the premiere amid press outcry over its glorification of crime.

3 The Diving Bell And The Butterfly

French director Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly chronicles quadriplegic editor Jean‑Dominique Bauby’s post‑stroke life, based on his memoir. The film, however, rewrites crucial personal details.

Bauby’s actual partner, Florence Ben Sadoun, visited him weekly and painstakingly helped him dictate his memoir using a left‑eye‑based system. The movie instead portrays his estranged wife Sylvie as the supportive visitor, while his lover stays away. Despite the controversy, the film earned a BAFTA, a Golden Globe, and Oscar nominations. Sadoun later published The False Widow to set the record straight.

2 The King’s Speech

Oscar‑winning The King’s Speech dramatizes future King George VI’s struggle with a stammer on the eve of World II. While the central bond between the king and speech therapist Lionel Logue is factual, the timeline is compressed by over a decade for cinematic effect.

The film also downplays Edward VIII’s pro‑Nazi sympathies and his advocacy for appeasement, and it misrepresents Winston Churchill’s stance on Edward’s abdication—historical letters reveal Churchill fought to prevent the abdication and never forgave Edward, contrary to the movie’s portrayal.

1 Frost/Nixon

2008’s Frost/Nixon dramatizes the famed 1977 interviews between British journalist David Frost and disgraced U.S. President Richard Nixon, yet it bends the truth in several notable ways.

One contested scene shows a drunken, late‑night phone call from Nixon to Frost—an invention dismissed by Nixon biographer Jonathan Aitken as pure fiction.

More seriously, the film’s climax suggests Nixon admits to a Watergate cover‑up, whereas in reality he denied any involvement, according to biographer Elizabeth Drew. The movie’s dramatized confession sparked criticism for fabricating a pivotal moment in history.

As a side note, the article’s author is a freelance writer who creates short films under the name Wardlaw Films and has penned radio sketches and jokes.