Independent News Service

The Independent News Service (INS) is a fictional newspaper featured in the Kolchak: The Night Stalker television series. It was first featured in the 1972 television movie The Night Stalker as well as it's 1973 sequel, The Night Strangler. The Independent News Service served as a pivotal backdrop and plot motivator for the Kolchak: The Night Stalker television series.

The Independent News Service, often abbreviated to just INS, was a wire service media agency based out of Chicago, Illinois. Though considered a reputable news outlet, the INS also had a proclivity towards publishing stories of a more sensationalistic flare, much to the frustration of editor Tony Vincenzo. One of INS' more colorful reporters was Carl Kolchak. While investigating a string of murders in Las Vegas, Nevada, Kolchak determined that the killer was a man who believed himself to be a vampire. With the help of a friend from the FBI, Kolchak's suspicions were confirmed as he confronted the serial killer Janos Skorzeny. However, the INS did not believe Kolchak's assertion that there were really such things as vampires and he was fired from his job.

Tony Vincenzo hired Kolchak back less than a year later and Kolchak was armed with a new understanding of the dark underpinnings of the world. While continuing to cover stories for INS, Carl Kolchak found himself involved in mysteries that pitted him against vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches and even a sewer monster.