William Hearst Essays - William Randolph Hearst, Old Right, Hearst

William Hearst 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 nations 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 Examinerwith enough money to carry out my schemesIll 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 fathers desire. So on the 7th of March 1887, William Randolph Hearst took control and became the proprietor of his fathers 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 Hearsts journalism. Hearst, combining sensationalism with a