Hearst, William Randolph

US newspaper publisher, famous for his introduction of banner headlines, lavish illustration, and the sensationalist approach known as ‘yellow journalism’. A controversialist and a strong isolationist, the film Citizen Kane (1941) was based on his life. He was also a Hollywood producer as well as an unsuccessful presidential candidate. He collected art treasures, antiques, zoo animals, and castles – one of which, San Simeon (Hearst Castle), California, became a state museum and zoo.

Born in San Francisco, California, the son of George Hearst, a US senator and gold-mine owner, Hearst took over the San Francisco Examiner from his father in 1887. Within ten years its circulation had quadrupled to nearly 100,000. Hearst, who had modelled the newspaper on the journalistic techniques of Joseph Pulitzer, then moved further into the USA's newspaper market; he acquired the New York Morning Journal in 1895 and launched the Evening Journal in 1896. Hearst began a fierce circulation war with Pulitzer, using a blend of investigative (into monopolies and corruption), sensational (articles about crime), and jingoistic reporting.