William Randolph Hearst 1863-1951

The influence of William Randolph Hearst on the modern newspaper model is indelible. His first acquisition was the ‘San Francisco Examiner’, passed to Hearst by his affluent father, George. He used this as an outlet for experimenting with sensationalisation and to develop an understanding of public responses and gratification to the media.

Using the knowledge and experience he gained he moved to New York in an endeavour to expand his audience; here he purchased the decaying ‘New York Morning Journal’. He was able to do this by using his deceased father’s money. The inheritance also secured him access to executive and renowned journalists, some of which he poached from rival newspaper ‘The World’, owned by his former mentor, ‘Joseph Pulitzer’.

Hearst’s contentious biographic ‘Citizen Kane’, demonstrates Hearst’s resoluteness; ‘I’ve got to make the New York Enquirer as important to New York as the gas in that light.’ He became an infamous public figure, stigmatised by the administration and much of the general public owing to his yellow journalistic tactics. However, Hearst’s own brand of yellow journalism instigated the birth of the mass media as we know it today. His influence is evident daily, exemplified within every tabloid newspaper. Orson Wells articulates, ‘Hearst published the gossip columns; he practically invented them!’

Hearst allied himself with the Cuban insurgents during the Cuban Revolution of 1895. A smear campaign against the Spanish was implemented to garner public support. This type of biased journalism is still prevalent today, demonstrated in practices such as political persuasion.

Hearst led a very rich, fanciful life, his personal life and business life was as much interest to the public as regular news. Citizen Kane states that, ‘To forty-four million U.S. news buyers, more newsworthy in his own headlines, was Kane himself, greatest newspaper tycoon of this or any other generation’. Hearst’s relationship with the film was less than harmonious; he saw it as a defamation of his and his second wives characters. He sought to have the film destroyed, but instead it went on to have a vast advertising campaign and become one of the all-time great films. Hearst ensured he had no part in this though; banning the mentioning of the film in all of his publications.

Hearst’s ambitions lead him to acquire numerous other daily and Sunday newspapers, expanding his monopoly throughout the United States. The ‘Hearst Corp.’ was established, and as well as newspapers, Hearst acquired magazines, movie newsreels and radio; as well as a stint in politics.