Behind the News (1940)

It's Jeff Flavin's first day on the job as a cub reporter for the Enquirer. The boss, Archer, places him with lazy reporter Stu Woodrow. Stu detests cubs and treats Jeff badly. Jeff saves a drunken Stu's job by covering convicted racketeer Houseman's escape from prison. Jeff goes to Houseman's sister for a scoop and witnesses the murder of Houseman and an innocent young child. While grateful to Jeff, Stu thinks Jeff is too decent to be a reporter and sends him on a fake story, which results in an angry Archer demoting Jeff. On his own, Jeff goes to the courthouse to see the trail of Marques, accused of Houseman's murder. Jeff, who speaks Spanish, hears the translator, Olmeda, falsely state that Marques confesses to the killing. Jeff tells Archer that he has a story. The problem is that because of the fake story, nobody believes him now.