William Randolph Hearst Essay Research Paper

William Randolph Hearst Essay, Research Paper

 INTRODUCTION

American journalism and mass media were both profoundly influenced by a very

dominating figure. In the last decade of the 19th century up until the end of the first half of the 20th

century, William Randolph Hearst was a mega-force to be reckoned with. Hearst was a famous

American publisher who built up the nation’s largest chain of newspapers. He was also a political

figure and one of the leading figures during the Spanish-American War period. In his newspapers,

he introduced a sensational journalistic style of writing and spent millions of dollars to fascinate and

captivate readers. This kind of journalism was described by critics as “Yellow Journalism.”

During his lifetime, even up until today, he has been respected, feared, loathed and envied by his

friends and enemies alike. A man in his position was capable of being the greatest constructor or

the most destructive evil of the Nation.

BIOGRAPHY

On 29th day of April 1863, in San Francisco, California, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, in great

torment, gave birth to a boy in her bedroom. The boy was named William Randolph Hearst.

William Randolph Hearst was the only child of George and Phoebe Hearst. His father, George

Hearst ( 1820-1891 ), was not born into a rich and wealthy family. He did his share of the labor at

a lead mine near his home. Mining had always fascinated him even from his childhood years. He

later earned the nickname the “Boy-That-Earth-Talked-To” from the miners he was working with.

With tremendous luck, hard working and blessings, he worked his way to become a multimillionaire

miner and had also become a United States Senator from California ( 1886-1891 ). His mother,

Phoebe Apperson Hearst ( 1842-1919 ), was a philanthropist and a school teacher from Missouri.

She had gained national fame for her gifts to needy students and educational institutions. While

Hearst was a boy, his father traveled throughout the West, from Mexico to Alaska, becoming a

partner in three of the largest mining discoveries ever recorded in American history: the Comstock

( silver ) Lode in Nevada, the Homestake ( gold ) Mine in South Dakota and the Anaconda (copper)

Mine in Montana. These three findings paved George Hearst the way to his millions.

George Hearst, in October of 1880, bought a small daily newspaper called the San Francisco

Examiner. He saw that the ownership of this newspaper can be used as a political organ and would

be beneficial to him. George took steps to improve the Examiner by hiring Emanuel Katz as the

general manager and expanded the workforce. Despite the fact that he did make some efforts in the

newspaper business, he had shown very little interest in the industry. At that time, he was very

interested in politics and later became a United States Senator from California as it was mentioned

above.

In the fall of 1882, William Randolph Hearst, aged nineteen, entered Harvard University.

But Hearst did not stay in Harvard University for long before being expelled in 1885 because of

practical jokes he played on the professors. Around the year 1884 – 1885, William wrote a letter

to his father requesting that he be entitled to take over the San Francisco Examiner. One of the

sentences from the letter he wrote to his father was “Now if you should make over to me the

Examiner—with enough money to carry out my schemes—I’ll tell you what I would do!”

His father had hoped that William would inherit the management of his mining and ranching

interests but William denied his father’s desire. So on the 7th of March 1887, William Randolph

Hearst took control and became the proprietor of his father’s struggling newspaper, San Francisco

Examiner. Hearst, aged 23 then, showed a lot of versatility and was ascertained to make this

newspaper popular. Many believed that Hearst was simply an amateur. He quickly set about

disproving that by dedicating long hours and much energy to the newspaper. As owner and also the

editor of the newspaper, he accumulated the best equipment, improved its appearance and its

relationship with the advertisers. Most importantly, he hired the most talented journalists possible.

He nicknamed the paper “The Monarch of the Dailies.” In order to boost circulation, Hearst

published a lot of news articles regarding corruption and motivating stories filled with drama. That

type of journalism became the trademark of the San Francisco Examiner and of Hearst’s journalism.

Hearst, combining sensationalism with a civic reform campaign, made his newspaper prospered

within a few years.

In 1895, Hearst moved to New York City and entered the New York City newspaper market

by purchasing a second newspaper, the unsuccessful New York Morning Journal. One year later,

he began the publication of the Evening Journal. His newspaper, the Morning Journal, entered

into a series of fierce head-to-head circulation wars with his former mentor

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