Media
William Randolph Hearst
1863–1951

Born into wealth on April 29, 1863, William Randolph Hearst began his life looking up to his father, a multi-millionaire of the 1860s. At 24, Hearst took over his father's small newspaper on March 7, 1887, called The San Francisco Examiner. Hearst, determined to make the newspaper popular, decided to nickname it “The Monarch of the Dailies.” His paper took off and in 1895, he decided to purchase the New York Morning Journal, rival to the New York World. During that time, the big story was about the Cuban Insurrection. He and his rival, Joseph Pulitzer, wrote about the incident in extreme terms, exaggerating everything within their articles. Sensationalized writing was so popular that both papers sold more copies than had previously. That form of exaggerated writing was nicknamed “Yellow Journalism,” and he was given the title of the “Father of Yellow Journalism.” Hearst took it one step further by becoming the first journalist to go overseas to write from the field, which changed the way the media covered stories. On his yacht, named the Sylvia, it was outfitted with everything in a printing press. At the peak of his career, before The Great Depression brought down his wealth, he owned 28 major newspapers, 18 magazines, and several radio stations and movie companies. He spent 28 years collaborating with architect Julia Morgan to build his dream home — a castle inspired by ones he saw while on his European tour as a child. Although Hearst Castle was never completed, it stands as one of America's architectural marvels and can be visited at San Simeon, California. Hearst died on August 14, 1951, at 88 years old, in Beverly Hills, California.

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