Today’s mass media has been molded by hundreds of years of reporting, journalism, and personal opinions. America’s mainstream media thrives upon stretching the truth and ‘creating’ interesting stories for the public. Tactics like this can be credited to people such as William Randolph Hearst, a newspaper mogul from the late 19th to the 20th centuries. Hearst greatly influenced the practice of American journalism through his wealth, short political career, and use of unorthodox reporting methods such as yellow journalism.
Born in San Francisco in 1863 to California gold rush millionaire George Hearst, William Randolph displayed a love for journalism at young age. While attending Harvard College, he wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, the university’s local newspaper (“William Randolph Hearst” pbs.org). After showing great promise as a journalist, he soon became an apprentice to his influence in journalism Joseph Pulitzer who, at the time, worked as a publisher at the New York World (the country’s most popular newspaper). Hearst, however, eventually returned to his birthplace of to become the publisher of his father’s newspaper the San Francisco Examiner. In 1887, Hearst officially became the editor and began running the Examiner; while in charge, he began implementing many changes (pbs.org). His advancements included hiring many great writers of the time (such as Mark Twain, Jack London, and Ambrose Bierce), upgrading the equipment used to print the papers, and working day and night to produce interesting, catchy headlines. In less than three years, Hearst had pushed the Examiner to the top and began competing with the New York World and his former hero Joseph Pulitzer.
While still working as an editor of his San Francisco newspaper, H...
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... lonely man who consumed his life with greed and pushed his loved ones away. Although Hearst slowed the social acceptance of this movie, he failed to stop it; it is now considered one of the greatest movies of all time.
William Randolph Hearst was a man driven by money and publicity throughout his life. He created a media empire that stretched across the whole country using his biased headlines and outlandish articles. By introducing yellow journalism to the journalism realm, he opened up a whole new style not only for reporters in his time, but for those of the future. Even though he sided with Hitler and went against FDR, his feud with Orson Welles over the production and release of Citizen Kane ultimately became his final demise. His death in 1951 at 88 years old leaves him gone but never forgotten as a man who changed the world of newspapers and media forever.
Clare Boothe Luce, an American journalist and politician, delivered a speech in 1960 to the Women’s National Press Club in front of the American press to criticize journalists for the misinformation they publish in order to challenge them to start publishing the truth rather than writing what the public wants to hear. Luce appeals to the audience of journalists using her role as a politician, comparison, and emphasis to persuade journalists to start writing the truth, no matter how dull, in order for American citizens to truly understand what is going on in today’s society. Throughout the speech, Luce speaks to the audience of journalists about how the information they release shouldn’t be falsified for a myriad of buyers or views. Although
George Hearst, William’s father was born in 1820 on a frontier plantation in Franklin, Missouri. George’s father died when he was 26. George was a very hard worker and loved his family very much. He worked odd jobs and in mines to pay off his fathers debt and to take care of his mother, sister and little brother. Mining fascinated young George and even though he could barely read he dwelled into geology books to learn more.
Theses and Professional Projects from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. Paper 2. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/journalismdiss/2
Yellow journalism is “a scandal-mongering practice of journalism that emerged in New York” during the nineteenth century (Kennedy and Cohen 558). This form of propaganda was influential during a time of war because it persuaded many indecisive Americans. For example, William Randolph Hearst had “the most influential newspaper in New York” (Crucible of Empire). In his newspaper, the New York Journal, he was able to spin stories in ways that he wanted to; thereby controlling the public and their thoughts and opinions on certain issues. In particular, his article about the sinking of the Maine was one of the biggest and most influential stories he published (“Yellow Journalism” par. 3). “After the sinking of the Maine, the Hearst newspapers, with no evidence, unequivocally blamed the Spanish” and the public quickly followed (“Yellow Journalism” par. 3). His story changed America’s view on the situation and eventually provoked action. The Spanish American War marked a change in the way many wars were typically fought. At the turn of the century, “the United States emerged as a world power, and the U.S. press proved its influence” (“Yellow Journalism” par. 4). As shown in the documentary, Crucible of Empire, the Spanish American War changed the way Americans approached war by introducing the practice of yellow journalism and influential
William Hearst was born on April 29th 1863. He was born to millionaire couple. Their names George and phoebe. Her maiden name was Apperson. He went to school at a young age, and continues dedicated in education in private schools supported by his father. Ending his education at Harvard College. During his college years at Harvard he was deeply attached to the world of newspaper and publishing. His crusading publisher was Joseph Pulitzer. However he was expelled from Harvard due to, a practical joke on one of his professor ("William Randolph Hearst" encyclopedia of world biography). After being given the authority to create the publication of a newspaper he thought it was a great idea to help develop his political career. He often used talented writers to encourage his newspaper to grow, such mark twain, and jack London ( " William Randolph Hearst").
Hearst was a rich guy that lived in a huge castle. He was also a famous person for writing newspapers. Hearst also died in Beverly Hills on August 14, 1951. All of his kids followed behind her dad, by working with the media company.
In Chapter 5, Covering America, Christopher Daly, delves into the history of journalism and discusses the various changes over time. These changes can be referred to as, Yellow Journalism and new journalism. Yellow Journalism is primarily based on exaggerations and sensationalism. Both Pulitzer and Hearst used rash headlines in order to sell more papers, if an effort to convince the public that the sinking of the USS Maine was done by the Spanish. Although, Yellow Journalism shocked its reader, it was not the only style of journalism. The penny press allowed for the creation of New Journalism.
During these difficult economic times sensationalism has become more prevalent in the media. Stories involving sex scandals and child murders have taken over our T.V and internet screens as well as the front pages of our newspapers. The media bias of sensationalism has been used as a sort of escapism for readers. Although it may seem that sensationalism has just started making waves, it has been around for decades. Sensationalism has been influencing viewers and contributing to media bias since the days of the penny press. Sensationalisms long history has been turbulent, self-serving, and influential to today’s reporting practices. With the influence over readers’ sensationalism’s media bias have and will continue to affect media reporting for years to come.
It is not uncommon to hear people complaining about what they hear on the news. Everyone knows it and the media themselves knows it as well. Some of the most renowned journalists have even covered the the media’s issues in detail. Biased news outlets have flooded everyday news. We find that journalism’s greatest problems lie in the media’s inability for unbiased reporting, the tendency to use the ignorance of their audience to create a story, and their struggles to maintain relevance.
The public was further angered by something called “yellow journalism”. Yellow journalism refers to writers such as Joseph Pullitzer and William Hearst trying to outdo each other with screeching headlines and hair raising “scoops”. Where there were no headlines, the yellow press would exaggerate and fabricate stories to get readers interested in their newspaper. For example, Hearst once wrote about Spanish Customs Offic...
“My prodigious sin was, and still is, being a non-conformist” (Chaplin). Charlie Chaplin was known as one that pushed limits in a variety of ways. This is how he thrived. His tip toeing along the boundaries drew people in while his genius kept them asking for more. Charlie was a jack of all trades and of them undoubtedly mastered three. Thus, through his talents, he impacted the worlds through many key elements. Throughout his life time, Charlie Chaplin greatly influenced British history, art and culture through his work as a comedian, as an actor and director.
This is a theme that is still very much present in today’s society. To begin with, Thatcher describes Kane’s founding of The Inquirer as a “philanthropic enterprise”, and Kane asserts that its purpose is to “look after the underprivileged.” However as Kane’s business and power grow, these morals begin to disintegrate. He begins to lie – Welles appropriates a famous line of Hearst’s – “you provide the prose poems, I’ll provide the war” – to depict the beginning of ‘yellow journalism’, in which the journalism makes up news which will shock and sell the paper, whether or not the story is actually
In order to understand new media, one must first have a solid background of the old media. The old media traces its origins back to the “elite or partisan press [that] dominated American journalism in the early days of the republic” (Davis 29). With the advent of the penny press around 1833, the press changed its basic purpose and function from obtaining voters for its affiliated political party to making profit (Davis 29). With more available papers, individual companies competed with each other with “muckraking journalism”—investigative journalism exposing corruption—and “yellow journalism”—sensationalist journalism that completely disregarded the facts (Davis 30). The press continued to evolve its journalistic approaches and next shifted to “lapdog journalism,” r...
In trying to attract new audiences, news media have begun to transition from reporting to becoming a form of entertainment. With the meteoric rise of social media’s role as a news source, the fight for an increase of diversity in the media, and the ever-growing desire of immediate content, the future of responsible journalism is more important than ever. Ask yourself, why do I think the way I do? Where do my political views originate? How do I prove them? Most likely, it is due to the biased portrayal of issues in the media and the politicization that accompanies what we consume. Now, compare your views to your preferred news reporting entity. More than likely, they are the same.
Journalism: a profession under pressure? Journal of Media Business Studies, 6, 37-59. Scannell, P. (1995). The 'Secondary'. Social aspects of media history, Unit 9 of the MA in Mass. Communications (By Distance Learning).