William Randolph Hearst

Newspaper magnate · (1863 - 1951)

• || Achievement

• Hearst at his peak owned 28 major newspapers and 18 magazines, along with several radio stations and movie companies. He sensationalized journalism with the introduction of banner headlines, lavish illustrations, and sharply biased news coverage.

• || Achievements made possible by
• Family wealth. He was the only child of U.S. Senator George Hearst, a self-made multimillionaire miner and rancher.
• || Notable
• Though the term "Yellow Journalism" was originally coined to describe Joseph Pulitzer's journalistic practices in the late 1890s, it was William Randolph Hearst who proved himself worthy of the title by The New York Journal's use of sharply biased articles, cartoons and headlines, instigating the Cuban War and several schemes that involved U.S. intervention. Hearst was a member of the United States House of Representatives (1903-07). In the 1920s Hearst built a castle on a 240,000 acre ranch at San Simeon, California. Now a public park and museum, the Hearst Castle was famous for entertaining the rich and famous in its day.
• || Education
• He attended Harvard and while studying journalism he worked on the Harvard Lampoon. He was an apprentice under Joseph Pulitzer while there.
• || Married
• Hearst married Millicent Willson in 1903 in New York City.