The subsidized newspaper
A large group of citizens read the latest news of a stock boom and rush off to the stockbroker to purchase the hot commodity. In the background, the corporate monopolist [“Trust Magnate”] is seen paying off the newspaper editor with shares of the stock. Caption: The promoter waters the stock, the newspaper booms it (for a consideration) and the silly public buys it – after which the water is squeezed out.
Comments and Context
Cartoonist Pughe’s critique of a dirty collaboration between corporate money was true enough: many newspapers were considered frank mouthpieces for industries or even individual companies. The practice was widespread, however; magazines also operated in similar fashion. A decade later, Harper’s Weekly was subsidized by Standard Oil; and Puck itself, late in its life, was funded by the Democratic Party; and in related fashion, or intent, newspaper publishers and editors sometimes were given ambassadorships as “plums.”
