Take a Trip to Hearst Castle

William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst was one of the most influential Americans of his day. Born in 1863 to a wealthy mining family in San Francisco, Hearst studied journalism at Harvard and acquired his first newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner in 1887 at the age of 23. In 1895 he entered the most important newspaper market of the day, New York, with his purchase of the New York Morning Journal and his creation of the Evening Journal a year later.

Hearst revolutionized the world of newspaper journalism. Such famous reporters as Ambrose Bierce, Jack London and Mark Twain all worked for him. He believed heavily in reporting investigations, and greatly welcomed sensationalism. His newspapers were all lavishly illustrated, doing their best to attract attention in a crowded newspaper market. These illustrations also included some of the first major work in the world of comic strips, playing a large role in creating the current newspaper comic strip market.

Hearst is perhaps most famous as a newspaper man for his role in the Spanish-American War, where Frederick Remington, one of his artists had travelled to Cuba to cover the Spanish war against the Cuban revolutionaries. Remington asked Hearst to come back home, explaining that there was no war. According to reports, Hearst responded “You provide the pictures; I'll provide the war.”

The sensationalist style of journalism practiced by Hearst came to be known as “yellow journalism”, as many of Hearst's papers were printed on yellow paper. This period of journalistic history is now known as the period of “yellow journalism.”

As the 20^th Century began, new media markets began to open up, most notably film. Hearst became an important player in the newly developing world of movie-making, producing over 100 films.