Born on this day in Mako, Hungary, newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911) moved to America in 1864 where he bought newspapers in New York (New York World) and St. Louis (Post-Dispatch) and helped set the standard for modern journalism.

"The power to mold the future of the republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations," said Pulitzer who passionately supported the common man and crusaded against corruption as he competed with magnate William Randolph Hearst for circulation supremacy.

"Publicity, publicity, publicity is the greatest factor and force in our public life," he once said and promised to "expose all fraud and sham, fight all public evils and abuses."

Pulitzer believed "the highest mission of the press is to render public service." His last will established the graduate school of Journalism at Columbia University in 1912. "I wish to begin a movement that will raise journalism to the rank of a learned profession," he said.

The famed publisher is best known for his endowment of the annual Pulitzer Prizes, first awarded in 1917, which honor excellence in American journalism, drama, music, and literature.

About reporting, he once advised, "Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.

PULITZER Prize winner

With power comes responsibility.