Joseph Pulitzer

Posted by Tel Asiado Apr 11, 2008

Great Thinker Datebook: April 10.

Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), American journalist, was born in Hungary, on April 10, 1847. He emigrated to the United States in 1864, aged 17, and served in the Union Army.

Pulitzer pioneered sensational journalism and founded the Pulitzer prizes, as incentive to excellence, of which he is continuously famous for.

Pulitzer purchased in 1878 the St Louis Post, merging it with the Dispatch. Later, he also bought the New York World and made it the nation's biggest alleged big business by crusading for oppressed workers and again, against alleged corruption in both government and business corporations.

He used the "yellow-press" techniques that another publishing magnate, William Randolph Hearst, copied and also used successfully.