Hearst started off by taking over the San Francisco Chronicle from his father, and turned the newspaper into a mix of reformist investigative reporting and sensationalism. Hearst was inspired by Pulitzer, and after starting, quickly developed a reputation for employing great journalists, such as Mark Twain, Jack London, Richard Harding Davis, Stephen Crane, and Ambrose Bierce. Hearst is even more well-known, however, for his takeover of the New York Journal, and what he did with that.
With the New York Journal (that became the New York Journal-American later), Hearst began to employ "yellow journalism" in that they implemented the use of glaring headlines, various illustrations, and brightly colored magazine parts with sensational crime articles, along with radical articles on foreign affairs. Pulitzer's newspaper (World) also used yellow journalism, and the competition that was sprung between Hearst and Pulitzer's respective newspapers is what really gave the rise to yellow journalism, and heavily influenced American journalism, for better or for worse.
Hearst did serve in the House of Representatives from 1903-1907, and came within 3,000 votes of winning the New York mayor election in 1905. Later on in his career, Hearst ultimately lost touch with his blue-collar readers, as his radical political views (such as denouncing the New Deal) led to his downfall. By 1940, only seventeen of his forty two papers remained in business. In the end, however, Hearst did still have have the largest news conglomerate in America.
Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/william-randolph-hearst
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Randolph-Hearst
I really like how you talked about how yellow journalism began to become a popular form of journalism. I also find it very interesting that you talked about Journalism, it is something that I havent really heard so its something I would like to learn more about thanks to your post. Also, what other types of journalism were there at the time? Ive also noticed that during this time journalism began to become more popular and began to be something that everyone knew about if for example a president had done something bad to a fellow co worker, something that would rarely happen before this.
ReplyDeleteInteresting blog post! I think it's important for people to understand the difference between yellow journalism in muckraking as the latter is essentially devoted to exposing the scandalous lives of celebrities or people with power. Also, Hearst and this idea of yellow journalism, I would say, was a major turning point in history as the American people were wanting to be more informed with what was happening to their country. Do you think that yellow journalism was a valid and ethical form of journalism?
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