The 'news' has been bought and paid for at least since the invention of moveable type.

Pulitzer and Hearst started the Spanish-American War in 1898 to sell newspapers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

"Just two years after Pulitzer took it over, the World became the highest circulation newspaper in New York, aided in part by its strong ties to the Democratic Party."

"Pulitzer's approach made an impression on William Randolph Hearst, a mining heir who acquired the San Francisco Examiner from his father in 1887. Hearst read the World while studying at Harvard University"

"Both were Democratic, both were sympathetic to labor and immigrants"