Exactly 50 years ago, Rupert Murdoch bought his first U.S. newspaper, espousing a lifelong credo that would make him a world-shaping media baron.
“We’re not here to pass ourselves off as intellectuals,” the Australian mogul told a U.S. reporter soon after his 1973 purchase of the San Antonio Express-News.
“We’re here to give the public what they want.”
He gave them fact-twisting sensationalism and pearl-clutching tales of crime and immorality. The paper’s managing editor would wander through the newsroom and sing out, “This isn’t journalism. This is show biz,” said a profile in Texas Monthly in 1976.
That profile ended with an observation: “A horrifying fact,
