| Type | Weekly newspaper |
|---|---|
| Format | Tabloid |
| Owner | Owen Thomson & Mark Day |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Ceased publication | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne, Australia |
| Circulation | 400,000 (peak[1]) |
The Truth was a Melbourne tabloid newspaper established in 1902 as a subsidiary of the Sydney Truth, established in 1890.[2]
In its early years its politics was very much left-leaning, and it 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. In its later decades it featured photographs of scantily-clothed young women.
At one time or other, many of Australia’s respected journalists worked on the paper. In 1967 one reporter was Richard L’Estrange who broke the scandal surrounding the Melbourne-Voyager collision.
One of its most famous headlines was written to announce the death of Billy Snedden, who was rumoured to have died of a heart attack while having sexual intercourse with a woman: "Snedden Died On The Job". The name was not always sarcastic, and it broke many important stories including the abortion protection racket of the 1960s.
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.[3] The late Owen Thomson (believed to be the inspiration of Barry Humphries' Les Paterson 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 and it was later passed on to Thomson and Day.
In its final years, the Truth was noted for its eclectic coverage, which combined big bare breasts on page 3 and tongue-in-cheek humour with hard-edged reporting, as well as the iconic racing liftout form guide, Truform. It was last published in 1995.