As dang points out in this thread, The Tech Model Railroad Club was formed in 1946[1]. The TMRC dictionary was first written in 1959.

http://www.gricer.com/tmrc/dictionary1959.html

The TMRC, which is generally cited as one of the origin points of MIT hacking culture, defines the following terms:

  HACK:
  1) something done without constructive end;
  2) a project under-taken on bad self-advice;
  3) an entropy booster;
  4) to produce, or attempt to produce, a hack.

  HACKER: one who hacks, or makes them.

This predates the news article by 4 years.

Also, you can't be a 'so-called hacker' unless people are already using the term.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Model_Railroad_Club