William Randolph Hearst was one of the most influential players in the world of mass communication during his lifetime. Hearst was a sensationalistic reporter and did not let anything stand between him and his goal of dominating the Newspaper industry. He was willing to throw aside morals and truth to gain circulation. He adopted tactics from his rival Journalist Joseph Pulitzer and the battle between these two powers has shaped the industry of American journalism.
Hearst was born on April 29th, 1863 in San Francisco, California. He was the only son of multi-millionaires George and Phoebe Hearst (Witkoski, 2016). George Hearst owned a slew of mines across the west coast which yielded a fortune for the Hearst family. George was constantly busy with his many mines which kept him from his home so William was mainly left to the care of his mother. Phoebe Hearst was more concerned with culture, arts, and education than her husband George. (Whitelaw, 2000). William and his mother had a very strong relationship. He was the apple of his mother’s eye and was constantly spoiled. William was a rather rambunctious child and could never seem to stay out of trouble. One of his favorite past times was pulling pranks on his family and friends. He once lit flares in pie tins to convince his family his room was on fire and did reveal it was a prank until the house had been evacuated and the police department called. On another occasion, he let a mechanical toy mouse loose whilst his mother served tea to some guests (Whitelaw, 2000). Phoebe Hearst was not too put off by his pranks and in regard to his shenanigans she had said “Bless his little heart he is a very good boy.” believing her son could do no wrong.
William Hearst’s had a rather lavished experience throughout his early years of education due largely in part to his mother’s fondness of education, she herself was a teacher. Most of William’s education came through the form of private tutors, private schooling, trips abroad, and a few years of public school. Early on Hearst was sent east to a private school where he only lasted two years before being asked to leave, likely due to his rambunctious and mischievous personality (Witkoski, 2016). After that William received the majority of his education through private tutors up until his main trip abroad. Because of Phoebe’s interest in culturing her only son she deemed it necessary to take him to Europe for eighteen months along with a private tutor from Harvard. During this trip William went sightseeing as well as studied the culture of Europe. When travelling through the poverty-stricken areas of Europe Hearst wanted to give away all of his money and clothes according to his mother (Whitelaw, 2000). When Hearst returned from Europe his Father had ran into some business troubles so due to their finances William was sent to public school. From 1874 to 1878 Hearst went between four different public schools. This could have been because of his troublesome nature or his mother’s dissatisfaction with the school systems (Whitelaw, 2000). In 1879 William attended a private college prep school in New Hampshire, St. Paul’s School. He was very homesick and held disdain for the school in its entirety and only attended for two years. Once Hearst was through with his primary education he enrolled at Harvard in 1882. He attended Harvard for 3 years and took a liking to the social scene at college rather than the classes and education. However, during his time at Harvard, he joined the failing school paper, the Lampoon, and used his determined attitude to increase circulation and revive the Lampoon. During his junior year he was expelled for engraving bed pans with the names of his professors and then gifting them to the professors. This was the end of William Hearst’s formal education but just the beginning of his practice as a newspaper publisher (Whitleaw, 2000) (Baldasty, 2000).
While William was in school his father had acquired the San Francisco Examiner paper as a payment for a debt. With his sparked interest in the Newspaper industry from his experience at Harvard, Hearst attempted to persuade his father to give him control of the Examiner (Russell, 2013). George Hearst was seeking political office during the time so he repeatedly denied William’s request because he planned on using the paper to further his campaign. George was also concerned because he did not want his only son to just be the owner of a failing newspaper. George offered William many other job choices however such as the supervisor of a ranch on two occasions and the manager of a mine on an another. William turned down all of these job offers and still persisted to ask for control of the Examiner only to be rejected again. After being rejected yet again William moved to New York and worked as a reporter for the New York World under Joseph Pulitzer. Hearst rose to the top of the competition in his little time as a reporter in New York (Whitelaw, 2000). In 1886 George was finally elected to a six-year position within the senate. This left him with no use for the Examiner so he gave in to the requests of his son and gave the paper over to William’s control in 1887. (Witkoski, Michael) (Whitelaw, 2000). This was the beginning of Hearst’s long-lasting legacy revolutionizing the newspaper and mass media industries.
William Randolph Hearst had unlimited ambition and near unlimited funding through his family fortune. When Hearst inherited the Examiner, it was pitiful with a circulation less than 23,000. The office only had one printing press and two telephones. At first may other competing newspapers failed to take Hearst seriously thinking that being a publisher was simply a phase for a spoiled rich kid. (Whitelaw, 2000). Hearst was determined to prove them wrong and make his mark on the world. With his family’s wealth, he went out and hired the most dramatic writers and reporters. Hearst instituted many strategies to revive the Examiner. These included advocating for government and business reforms as well as using wildly sensationalistic headlines to grab the attention of the readers as he had seen during his time in New York. Some of the reforms that Hearst advocated for were against a city charter that he claimed would only be hurting the poor. The most intense and long-lasting campaign held by the examiner was Hearst’s fight against the Southern Pacific Railroad. This railroad had a monopoly over all of California’s railroads and also provided terrible service and overcharged with random fees. Hearst received a lot of pushback from some of his father’s colleagues who were owners of the Southern Pacific Railroad but still he persisted. Because Hearst tended to side with the general public instead of the political elite on these controversial stances Hearst’s work in the Examiner was favored by much of the working class.
Alongside his push for reformations Hearst held taste for the dramatic and would push his writers to exaggerate freely in order to increase circulation (Cohen, 2000). Hearst picked up this method during his time working under Joseph Pulitzer in New York (Kowalski, 2005). Some of his largely exaggerated stories in the Examiner include a hotel fire in which Hearst released a fourteen-page special edition alongside three column pictures. The headline for this paper read “Hungry Frantic Flames “Leaping Higher, Higher, Higher, With Desperate Desire” Running Madly Riotous Through Cornice, Archway and Façade. Rushing In Upon The Trembling Guests With Savage Fury”. This headline was far beyond a simple exaggeration, it was mostly made up. Hearst cared very little for the truth and facts of a story. The day after this publication the Examiner was filled with praise for its own extensive coverage of the fire with the headline “A GREAT PAPER” on its main editorial. Aside from exaggerating Hearst would even create his own stories with the help of his reporters. (Cohen, 2000) On one occasion a reporter of the Examiner, per Hearst’s directions, threw himself into the San Francisco Bay off a steamer. He was then committed to an insane asylum for a month and upon release wrote an expose on the horrendous conditions inside the asylum (Cohen, 2000). Nothing was off limits in Hearst’s strive for success.
For a very long time after Hearst took over the Examiner lost more money than ever due to his expensive crew of writers and editors alongside his costly stunts. One year Hearst had to pay 300,000 out of pocket in order to meet the expenses of his paper. His spending habits were going over the top and he was spending more money than both his father and mother combined (Whitelaw, 2000). He was put on an allowance of 5,000 dollars a month and then shortly after he was cut off all together because he failed to follow those guidelines. Hearst was convinced that the Examiner was on the edge of becoming independent however his father refused to lend him anymore money (Witkoski, 2016). Hearst continued to run the Examiner relying on flashing headlines, simple ideas, and emotional stories until the Examiner finally was making a profit. Circulation was increasing exponentially and advertising in the Examiner became significantly more profitable. The Examiner rose to the top on the back of Hearst’s sensationalism and gusto. It became the largest and most popular newspaper in all of San Francisco (Cohen, 2000).
Hearst was not content with his roaring success in San Francisco. He wanted to take on bigger and better things. William set his sights on the city he once worked in as a reporter, New York. New York appealed greatly to Hearst due to its incredibly dense population of potential readers and more convenient methods of distribution (Whitelaw, 2000). In 1895 Hearst purchased the New York Journal for $180,000. Hearst set out with the goal of beating his prior employer, Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World. The circulation of the journal was 77,000 when Hearst purchased it and just after a few months it was over 100,000 (Whitelaw, 2000). One way Hearst worked to increase circulation was by dropping the price of the Journal to one cent in comparison to Pulitzer’s two cents. He was losing money on every paper he sold but was only concerned about getting circulation. (Witkoski, 2016) (Cohen, 2000) Another way that Hearst increased circulation was through large promotional campaigns. Hearst hired posters, bands, and even gave away sweaters and coffee to the poor (Cohen, 2000). Pulitzer did not attempt to keep up with any of Hearst’s stunts with the hopes that William would eventually end up bankrupting his mother and be forced to give up the New York Journal (Whitelaw, 2000).
This was not the case however. Hearst was willing to spend all it took to beat Joseph Pulitzer. Hearst went to the extreme of hiring out all of the New York World’s writers by offering them lucrative salaries. Pulitzer responded by hiring them all back the very next day with a pay raise however Hearst simply outbid Pulitzer the day after and the writers stayed with Hearst and the New York Journal (Whitelaw, Nancy). Among these employees that Hearst hired away from Pulitzer was the cartoonist of the “Yellow Kid” which was Pulitzers most well-known comic in his paper. Pulitzer simply hired another artist and continued running the comic along with Hearst running the same comic. This is where the term of “Yellow Journalism” comes from, referring to the sensationalistic style of reporting accredited to Pulitzer and Hearst, this style was also referred to as New Journalism. (Witkoski, 2016). Pulitzer continued to battle against Hearst for circulation in New York. Both relied on scandalous stories mainly involving sex, crime and anything that would grab the eye of the public. Hearst kept up his old tactics of creating a story where there was not truly one (Carey, 2016).
Perhaps the largest effect that Hearst’s sensationalistic reporting style had on the real world was involving the Spanish American war. Many like to blame Hearst for the start of the war however that cannot accurately be concluded, although he did lend a helping hand. In the early stages of the Cuban revolt against Spain Hearst sent two reporters to Cuba to cover the evolving action. It is rumored that the reporters Hearst sent to Cuba requested to come back due to a lack of action and Hearst replied to the “Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” There is no proof of this anecdote but it remains famous because it very well could be true and captures the spirit of Hearst’s reporting (Cohen, 2000). Hearst used his platform to advocate for the freedom of Cuba by publishing many of the wrongdoings of Spain to Cuba and degrading McKinley for not taking any action during the situation. Hearst needed a new flashing story to capture the hearts of the American people and provoke them to take action in aiding Cuba. This break came in the form of an 18-year-old daughter of an imprisoned Cuban revolutionist, Evangelina Cosio y Cisneros. Evangelina was part of an attempt to break her father out of the Spanish prison but the things did not go as planned and she was captured, arrested, and sent to Havana to await trial (Cohen, 2000). Hearst immediately saw the potential in this story and began to add his spin to it saying she was only imprisoned for resisting sexual advances by the commander of the prison where her father was being held. He framed Evangelina as a sweet heart who was being wronged by the Spanish government. Hearst sent down another reporter, Karl Decker, with the mission of breaking her out of prison. In the meantime, Hearst formed a petition for the release of Evangelina Cosio that was to be sent to the queen regent of Spain. His primary focus was to get signatures of the prominent women of the time and that he did. The mother of President McKinley, the wife of the secretary of state, and the widow of President Ulysses Grant were all among the names signed on the petition. The massive number of signatures alarmed Spain but did not pressure them enough to let Evangelina go. As interest began to die out Hearst decided it was time to move onto plan B, the breakout. Karl Becker simply bribed the guards to look the other way and then she was smuggled to America dressed as a sailor. When the Journal reported it however Becker said he had drugged her cell mates and crawled across the roof to rescue Evangelina.
On February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine anchored in Havana exploded and shrunk, resulting in the death of 260 officers and men. It was not known what caused the explosion but that did not stop Hearst. The headline of the Journal read “THE WARSHIP MAINE WAS SPLIT IN TWO BY AND ENEMY’S SECRET INFERNAL MACHINE” which sent the United States into a frenzy. By mid-April Congress voted in favor of war with Spain. (Cohen, 2000) Spain never wanted to go to war and McKinley had always been against the war. To say Hearst started the Spanish-American War is a bit of a stretch but without him and his influence on the public the war could have very well been avoided.
Hearst’s empire continued to grow, eventually reaching over 12 newspapers, 18 magazines and a handful of movie companies and radio stations. While other newspapers turned to factual reporting Hearst stuck with the methods of sensationalism and it kept working. (Kowalski, 2005) While his reign became even larger his influence over the public peaked during his time directly before and during the Spanish-American war. Hearst went on to serve two terms in the House of Representatives serving the 11th district of New York. He then unsuccessfully ran for the mayor of New York City, governor of New York, and President of the United States. (Witkoski, 2016). After the Great Depression in the 1930’s Hearst’s media empire was greatly struggling and had to be saved by some federal spending from President Roosevelt. In 1945 Hearst came back into control by creating the Hearst Foundation that he ran until his death on August 14, 1951. The Hearst Foundation is still alive and well today however it mainly focuses on