专八人文知识需知的美国名人--威廉·蓝道夫·赫斯特
William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) wasan American newspaper magnate and leading newspaperpublisher.
他是出版巨头，他把耸人听闻的办报风格发挥的淋漓尽致，他也间接促成了美西战争的爆发。
The press baron who perfected yellow journalism and helped start the Spanish-American War.
Hearst was born in San Francisco to millionaire mining engineer George Hearst and PhoebeApperson Hearst. Following preparation at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, heenrolled in the Harvard College class of 1885, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilonfraternity (Alpha chapter), the A.D. Club (a prestigious Harvard Final club), and of the HarvardLampoon prior to his expulsion from Harvard for giving several of his professors expensivechamber pots with their names elaborately painted on the inside.
Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 after taking control of The San Francisco Examinerfrom his father. Moving to New York City, he acquired The New York Journal and engaged in abitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's New York World which led to the creation of yellowjournalism — sensationalized stories of dubious veracity. Acquiring more newspapers, Hearstcreated a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at its peak. He laterexpanded to magazines, creating the largest newspaper and magazine business in the world.
He was twice elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives, but ran unsuccessfullyfor Mayor of New York City in 1905 and 1909, for Governor of New York in 1906, and forLieutenant Governor of New York in 1910. Nonetheless, through his newspapers and magazines,he exercised enormous political influence, and is sometimes credited with pushing public opinion inthe United States into a war with Spain in 1898. He was also a prominent leader of the liberal wingof the Democratic Party from 1896 to 1935, although he became more conservative later in life.
His life story was a source of inspiration for the lead character in Orson Welles' classic film CitizenKane.[2] His mansion, Hearst Castle, near San Simeon, California, on a hill overlooking the PacificOcean, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, was donated by the Hearst Corporationto the state of California in 1957, and is now a State Historical Monument and a National HistoricLandmark, open for public tours. Hearst formally named the estate La Cuesta Encantada ('TheEnchanted Slope'), but he usually just called it 'the ranch'.
"Yellow Journalism"
Though the term was originally coined to describe the journalistic practices of Joseph Pulitzer,William Randolph Hearst proved himself worthy of the title. Today, it is his name that issynonymous with "yellow journalism." The Sensational Beginnings of Yellow Journalism
... where "yellow journalism" got its start. In a classic example of the power of ownership, Hearstresponded to illustrator Frederic Remington's request to return from a Havana that was quiet, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." --Spanish--American War of 1898
When an explosion sank the Maine and killed hundreds of sailors in the Havana Harbor on 15February 1898, journalists, including those from the Journal, recommended caution in speculatingthe cause of the disaster. Hearst had other ideas. When he learned of the explosion, he called theJournal city desk and asked the editor on duty what other stories were to be played on the frontpage. When the editor replied ust the other big news,?Hearst exploded that there was no other bignews and the sinking of the Maine meant war. Two days later the Journal was banging the wardrum with such headlines as star? Sure!?Coverage of the Spanish-American War, soon to becomethe Journal war, established a template for the next century of how journalists were to coversignificant events. After thirty-five years of this type of journalism, newsmen and women atcompeting papers were amused when Hearst issued a bulletin in 1933 that established editorialguidelines for his newsrooms across the country: - Introduction, Red Ink, White Lies: The Rise andFall of Los Angeles Newspapers 1920-1962 by Rob Wagner, Robert Leicester Wagner
Ernest L. Meyer wrote: "Mr. Hearst in his long and not laudable career has inflamed Americansagainst Spaniards, Americans against Japanese, Americans against Filipinos, Americans againstRussians, and in the pursuit of his incendiary campaign he has printed downright lies, forgeddocuments, faked atrocity stories, inflammatory editorials, sensational cartoons and photographsand other devices by which he abetted his jingoistic ends." --Chapter 17: Farewell: Lord of SanSimeon, Lords of the Press, George Seldes
