He was the son of Albert Brisbane (1809–90), a social reformer whose ideas he early supported but later repudiated. Returning to the U.S. in 1883 from studies in Europe, he worked first on Charles A. Dana's New York Sun and then on Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. In 1897 William Randolph Hearst made him managing editor of The New York Journal, and, with his salary tied to circulation rises, Brisbane became the highest paid U.S. newspaper editor of his day. He played a large part in the Journal's promotion of the Spanish–American War. His editorial column, “Today,” written from 1917 to the day of his death, was widely syndicated, often as a front-page feature.