William Randolph Hearst, the New York Journal, and Yellow Journalism

William Randolph Hearst was a newspaper publisher whose career is one of the most successful in news history. His father, George Hearst, was a mining millionaire from California. He owned the San Francisco Examiner, which had been doing poorly, and gave it to William. William, who had worked briefly under Joseph Pulitzer at the New York World, remade the paper by mixing investigative reporting and sensationalism. He completely turned the paper around. Within 2 years, the paper was showing a profit. He would spend 8 million dollars of his father's money making the paper a success.

His real fame would come when he purchased the failing New York Morning Journal in 1895. To rival Pulitzer and the New York World, he would have to do some shady business. And this he did. He smartly hired capable writers such as Stephen Crane and Julia Hawthorne. To find other good writers, he "raided" the New York World, snatching a writer named Richard F. Outcault. He was important because he was the author of the comic strip "The Yellow Kid", which would be the first to be printed in color. The battle between Pulitzer and Hearst gave the new form of reporting its title, "yellow journalism."

An example of a panel from a "Yellow Kid" strip. 

The New York Journal took off for many reasons. It featured a large number of drawings and color, drawing viewers in by this new development. It had glaring headlines, involving itself in crime, scientific topics, and foreign affairs. People were drawn to this content that promised to be good. Lastly, it was priced at one cent, making the money required to buy it not an issue for anybody. Because of this, many laborers read his newspaper. Knowing this, he catered his paper to urban working people and recent immigrants. Articles would advocate for labor unions, progressive policy, and sometimes go as far as to advocate socialist policy. Because most immigration at the time came from Ireland and Germany, the paper often condemned British influence and attacked Asian immigration. This tailoring of subject manner shaped the success of the paper, and its effects are seen today in "clickbait" and other articles.


Sources:
http://www.history.com/topics/william-randolph-hearst
https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Randolph-Hearst

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