Truth (Melbourne newspaper)
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| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner(s) | Owen Thomson & Mark Day |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Ceased publication | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Circulation | 400,000 (peak) |
Truth was a Melbourne tabloid newspaper established in 1902 as a subsidiary of Sydney's Truth. It was "a sensational weekly paper with a large circulation, delighting while shocking its readers with its frequent exposure of personal scandal and social injustice. Detailed police and court reports, illustrated by drawings and photographs of prosecutors and defendants."
In its early years Truth was left-leaning, and painted itself as the voice of the working class. Before 1945 it had a style of journalism that was high pitched, sensational and melodramatic. The newspaper from its earliest days was based on scandal, particularly based on the records of the divorce courts, which were not subject to restrictions on reporting.
Truth broke stories involving Agent Orange and Vietnam veterans, as well as the whole story of what happened at Maralinga with the A-bomb tests. In 1967, Richard L'Estrange broke the scandal surrounding the Melbourne-Voyager collision. Evan Whitton's report on police protection of abortionists led to an inquiry into the abortion protection racket of the 1960s, and the jailing of several officers.
In December 1958, Ezra Norton and the other shareholders of its holding company, Truth and Sportsman Ltd, sold their shares to the Fairfax group, which sold it on to Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd. The late Owen Thomson (believed to be the inspiration of Barry Humphries's Sir Les Patterson character) and Mark Day were the final owners of the paper before it folded. It is said that Dame Elisabeth Murdoch (Rupert's mother) took a dim view of the scandalsheet, which was later passed on to Thomson and Day.
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