William Randolph Hearst was undoubtedly one of the most powerful and most influential people of his time. Many people with this amount of power tend to be corrupt. But, what was wrong with Hearst? Was he a bigot? Was he a criminal? One could argue that he was both.
Hearst is the most famous person ever to participate in yellow journalism. This was his way of getting others to do what he wanted. Once he grew famous enough, everyone listened to what he had to say. But, why was this? Why did people listen to someone so much if he was just a journalist? But, he was not just a mere journalist. He was the most powerful journalist in the world, who got there through yellow journalism. Before this time, yellow journalism really was not popular or even a thing yet. So, when he wrote fabricated stories and produced misleading headlines, people thought he was telling the truth. At the time, journalists were regarded as honest people. They were people that the public could trust to deliver truthful news. This was because journalism and newspapers were fairly new in their stages of development. People did not have any way of factchecking, so, they just went with it, for they had no reason not to believe the stories. This was how Hearst manipulated people into believing everything he published. He found a loophole that, at the time, no one had really tapped into, at least to this extreme. This is how he hurt people.
You may be wondering, if Hearst was just a journalist, how did he hurt people? The answer is in the stories he published. His bigotry and beliefs had an extremely large impact on the Spanish-American War. Hearst wanted Cuba to be freed from Spain. So, he put out countless stories about how bad the Spanish people were. He then put out shocking stories that the Spanish soldiers were to blame for the sinking of the USS Maine. After this, there was no stopping this unnecessary and unwarranted war.
While this war clearly hurt a large amount of people, both physical and mental pain, the true crime was his lack of ethics. He was a journalist that was only in it for the money. He hurt others and held no remorse in that his only goal was the grow more powerful and more successful. William Randolph Hearst was not a good man.
Hearst is the most famous person ever to participate in yellow journalism. This was his way of getting others to do what he wanted. Once he grew famous enough, everyone listened to what he had to say. But, why was this? Why did people listen to someone so much if he was just a journalist? But, he was not just a mere journalist. He was the most powerful journalist in the world, who got there through yellow journalism. Before this time, yellow journalism really was not popular or even a thing yet. So, when he wrote fabricated stories and produced misleading headlines, people thought he was telling the truth. At the time, journalists were regarded as honest people. They were people that the public could trust to deliver truthful news. This was because journalism and newspapers were fairly new in their stages of development. People did not have any way of factchecking, so, they just went with it, for they had no reason not to believe the stories. This was how Hearst manipulated people into believing everything he published. He found a loophole that, at the time, no one had really tapped into, at least to this extreme. This is how he hurt people.
You may be wondering, if Hearst was just a journalist, how did he hurt people? The answer is in the stories he published. His bigotry and beliefs had an extremely large impact on the Spanish-American War. Hearst wanted Cuba to be freed from Spain. So, he put out countless stories about how bad the Spanish people were. He then put out shocking stories that the Spanish soldiers were to blame for the sinking of the USS Maine. After this, there was no stopping this unnecessary and unwarranted war.
While this war clearly hurt a large amount of people, both physical and mental pain, the true crime was his lack of ethics. He was a journalist that was only in it for the money. He hurt others and held no remorse in that his only goal was the grow more powerful and more successful. William Randolph Hearst was not a good man.
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