Daily Planet (SV)

The ***Daily Planet*** is one of Metropolis's oldest and most respected newspapers. As of 2005, Pauline Kahn was the Editor-in-Chief. The *Daily Planet* was conducting a global search for a new Editor-In-Chief. Franklin Stern, the new publisher, was the acting Editor-In-Chief until a replacement was hired. The paper's slogan is "Straight from the Source."

In 2007, Lex Luthor revealed that he had purchased the *Daily Planet*. He quickly started to exert editorial control over the paper. He hand-picked Lois Lane to write a flattering exposé about him, but when she instead threatened to detail his numerous crimes, he killed the story. He monitored email and data communication of his employees. He also fired several staff members, including Chloe Sullivan after she lied to him about a key that Lionel had left for her.

Since the disappearance of Lex, Tess Mercer has taken over ownership of the *Planet*. Tess then asked Oliver if he wanted to invest his own money into LuthorCorp in a merger deal with his own company, Queen Industries. He agreed and they announced the deal at a LuthorCorp board meeting to the dismay of Lex who used Winslow Schott to plant a bomb to kill Oliver and Tess. Tess wasn't present but Oliver suffered some minor injuries before getting revenge by killing Lex with a bomb built by Toyman.

Franklin Stern has taken over as publisher of the *Daily Planet*. He was endorsed after Tess went on the lam from the covert government agency known as Checkmate. He is also the acting Editor-in-Chief but is in pursuit to find a more suitable replacement.

Lex later resurfaced and killed Tess, thus reclaiming everything that he had previously owned including the *Daily Planet*. However sometime later Lex sold the company because he felt that the newspaper has become more tabloid than news source.

The *Daily Planet* building's most distinguishing and famous feature is the enormous globe that sits on top of the building. The *Planet* accepts four high school students as summer interns from the state.

## Physical Appearance

Outdoors
The *Daily Planet* is based in a tall skyscraper building, located at address 355, 1000 Broadway in Metropolis, Kansas, next door to LuthorCorp Plaza and across the street from the Ace of Clubs.

The Daily Planet rooftop overlooks the entire city of Metropolis.

Indoors
Junior reporters and photographers at the Planet work in exposed desks in a basement bullpen. For several years, Lois and Clark worked in the open plan "basement" at the *Daily Planet* (Chloe used to work here as well, before she was fired.)

There are several other indoor spaces at the Planet:

* The top reporters/senior reporters at the paper work on higher level floors in the building.
* Owner and publisher Tess Mercer also has a large private office at the Planet.
* Top reporters, columnists and editors like Grant Gabriel and Linda Lake—and later, Lois and Clark—also get their own offices.
* There is a supply closet near the basement.
* A large staircase in the center of the building goes all the way from the basement to the roof.
* There is also a bank of elevators that connects the floors in the building.
* There is an enormous walk-in freezer in the building, presumably servicing the *Daily Planet* kitchen. Lois and Jimmy were locked in the freezer by Lex Luthor's assistant.
* Some floors appear to be dedicated to specific departments. For example, the entire sixth floor is dedicated to political correspondence, where political correspondents like Brennan worked.

## Known Staff

Current Staff
* **Lois Lane** is a rising *Daily Planet* reporter and has been a reporter at the *Daily Planet* for three years. She was hired away from the *Metropolis Inquisitor* by Grant Gabriel. Shortly after he hired her, Grant had Lois reporting on exclusive assignments all over the country. When she and Grant started dating, Lois decided that the relationship was worth the risk of damaging her career. She and Grant began a relationship while he was her manager, but Lois never learned his true identity and apparently is not aware of his death. Lois put a great deal of focus on the goings-on of Lex Luthor, and Lex used a variety of methods to monitor, control or thwart her investigations. In addition to the exposé, she reported on Lex's near-death experience in Detroit, a story which he also likely prevented from being published. She also helped Jimmy Olsen investigate the death of Patricia Swann and focused on Lex Luthor's frequent trips to the Arctic Circle. The first onscreen indication of Lois publishing a story came in the summer of 2008. She and Clark Kent investigated a bus explosion right outside the *Daily Planet* building and her story was a front-page headline and has gotten many headlines since then. She was fired by Franklin Stern but later Perry White managed to get Lois her job back. After three years of working at the *Daily Planet* as a reporter, Lois gets promoted out of the basement bullpen to the office floor penthouse office upstairs. This is when her all of her colleagues begin to regard  her as the best reporter at *The Daily Planet.*  After their first investigation together, Perry White said that her gifts in investigative journalism will take her to unimaginable heights. Lois has gained  notariety all across the world for her skills in investigation.

* **Clark Kent** accepted Lois' suggestion to apply to the *Daily Planet*. He started out simply as a copyboy but is now a reporter at the desk opposite Lois. It can be assumed that Perry White "assisted" Clark in acquiring a job at The Planet. He told Clark years ago, when they first met, that if he stayed with journalism and ever came to Metropolis, he'd help him out. His first writing assignment was an obituary. He has also published at least two stories. He was fired by Franklin Stern but later Perry White managed to get him his job back.

* **Jimmy Olsen** the younger brother of Henry James Olsen follows in his brother's footsteps by becoming a photographer for the *Daily Planet* working alongside Lois and Clark.

* **Perry White** was a reporter at the *Daily Planet* who wrote an article on Lionel Luthor's conviction in September 2004. He had previously worked at the *Daily Planet* where he was nominated for multiple Pulitzer prizes, before being forced out for working on a story about Lionel Luthor. He is now a Planet employee once again and recently was researching a story about the Red Queen with Lois. He now works in the Planets' foreign offices in Britain. Eventually Perry became the Editor-In-Chief.

* **Franklin Stern** is the publisher of the *Daily Planet* and temporary Editor-in-Chief. He was promoted after Tess Mercer went on the run from Checkmate. He is currently heading a global search for someone to replace him as Editor-In-Chief. He believes Clark and Lois work well together and considers both of them as his two best young reporters.

* **Cat Grant** is a reporter at the *Daily Planet* who moved to Lois Lane's place as Clark Kent's partner when Lois took a foreign desk in Africa, and again when Lois received her promotion.

* **Randall Brady** is the City Editor for the *Daily Planet* following the death of Grant Gabriel at a steak house. In an alternate timeline, he promoted Lois Lane after the story she wrote on Clark Kent's alien heritage and time as the Red-Blue Blur. He was infected by the zombie virus, but later cured by an antidote formed out of Clark's blood.

* **Jeff Hage** is an former intern at the Daily Planet and is commonly exploited by Lois Lane as her personal assistant.
* **Ron Troupe** is a reporter at the *Daily Planet*.

Alumni
* **Chloe Sullivan** was an intern at the *Planet* twice during her high school years. Her sophomore year, she was picked after writing an essay on her experience of being kidnapped. She helped a reporter during her summer intern. Her junior year, Lionel Luthor arranged for her to have a column, called "Sullivan's Travels", after she agreed to investigate Clark Kent. He later withdrew the favor when he believed she betrayed him. He also blacklisted her name, hindering her efforts to realize her dream to write for the paper. Chloe attempted to write under the name "Lois Lane," but her editor was killed before he published any of her articles. As a college student, Chloe was hired by Pauline Kahn as an intern at the *Daily Planet*. She began writing obituaries and classified advertisements and answering the 24-hour news hotline. She then wrote small general-interest articles. She had at least four major stories published before she was fired by Lex. This would actually turn out to be a good thing, because she had time to think about her abilities, and she realized that her greatest strength in investigation lies with computers, not journalism. Thus, she became the superhero/information broker, Watchtower.

* **Andrea Rojas** worked at the *Planet* as a secretary, before quitting to become the masked superhero *Angel of Vengeance*.

* **Pauline Kahn** was the Editor-in-Chief.

* **Dinah Lance** was a conservative talk show host who worked at the *Daily Planet*. She is also the alter-ego of the superheroine Black Canary. It is unclear if she quit her job to join Oliver Queen's team of superheroes, or if she still works at the *Planet*.

* **John Corben** was brought into the Daily Planet as a replacement for Clark Kent but was run over by a truck and turned into a psychotic cyborg. He was basically deactivated by Clark Kent.

* **Steve Lombard** was an employee at the Planet before he left for a job at the *Daily Star*.

Deceased Staff
* **Max Taylor** edited Chloe's column before being killed by his hypnotized assistant.
* **Linda Lake** was a gossip columnist who worked at the *Daily Planet*. She used her ability to transform her body into water to gather gossip and print it in her columns. She was murdered by Davis Bloome while imprisoned at Metropolis General Hospital.
* **Brennan** was a reporter for the Daily Planet. Unfortunately, he was shot and killed by hired killers trying to block the story from being published.
* **Colin** worked at the Daily Planet until he was killed on Chloe and Jimmy's wedding by Doomsday.
* **Sebastian Kane** was a new reporter hired by Tess Mercer to spy on Lois Lane until he was killed by Brainiac.
* **Jimmy Olsen** worked as an on-location photographer. He quit his job in March 2009 after recovering from his marriage incident in the hospital, but before long his marriage to Chloe Sullivan completely dissolved as a result of his frustration. He left a profile about Davis Bloome on Tess Mercer's desk before leaving the *Daily Planet* for good. He was eventually killed by Davis Bloome.
* **Tess Mercer** was the publisher that succeeded Lex Luthor, and was the one who hired Clark Kent as repayment for him saving her from a train wreck caused by Plastique. She was eventually killed by Lex Luthor.