Born: 1928, United States
Died: 23 November 2018
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Loretta June McDermott
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
In the 1960s, Boston journalists Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole worked to publicise what would become known as the Boston Strangler murders. “An editor disputed the worth of a series on the four dead women, noting that they were ‘nobodies,’” McLaughlin later recalled. The reporters’ first major story ran with the headline “Two Girl Reporters Analyze Strangler”—never mind that both were experienced investigative journalists in their thirties. “Being a female reporter was often semi-apologetically noted for the readers,” McLaughlin observed. “Among my newsclips are several with a headline stating, ‘Girl reporter covers’ whatever it was, from murder to presidential elections.”