I think it was at least partly true up through the 1950s (in areas with a strong separation of government and press). I fear it’s true BECAUSE history isn’t all that accurate either, and until recently, there has been a pretty strong shared storytelling between historians and journalists.
William Randolph Hearst not only owned a lot of newspapers was politically active to the point of being elected to congress and running for president.
I’m not aware of any newspaper owner currently being in elected office at the Federal level.
Wikipedia writes about his political actions:
He sensationalized Spanish atrocities in Cuba while calling for war in 1898 against Spain. Historians, however, reject his subsequent claims to have started the war with Spain as overly extravagant.
No newspaper owner today would take the credit for starting a war.
Robert Caro’s book The Power Broker is interesting in how it recounts Moses interaction with Newspapers like the New York Times and Moses had no problem getting the Times to print what he wanted.
I think it was at least partly true up through the 1950s (in areas with a strong separation of government and press). I fear it’s true BECAUSE history isn’t all that accurate either, and until recently, there has been a pretty strong shared storytelling between historians and journalists.
William Randolph Hearst not only owned a lot of newspapers was politically active to the point of being elected to congress and running for president.
I’m not aware of any newspaper owner currently being in elected office at the Federal level.
Wikipedia writes about his political actions:
No newspaper owner today would take the credit for starting a war.
Robert Caro’s book The Power Broker is interesting in how it recounts Moses interaction with Newspapers like the New York Times and Moses had no problem getting the Times to print what he wanted.