Yellow Journalism | Citizen Hearst | American Experience | PBS

Shortly after an explosion sunk the battleship . Maine in Havana harbor, Cuba, William Randolph Heart’s newspaper declared confidently: “MAINE DESTROYED BY SPANISH.” How could he know that? He didn't. Official Website: | #CitizenHearstPBS In the 1930s, William Randolph Hearst’s media empire included 28 newspapers, a movie studio, a syndicated wire service, radio stations and 13 magazines. Nearly one in four American families read a Hearst publication. His newspapers were so influential that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Winston Churchill all wrote for him. The first practitioner of what is now known as “synergy,” Hearst used his media stronghold to achieve unprecedented political power, then ran for office himself. After serving two terms in Congress, he came in second in the balloting for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1904. Perhaps best known as the inspiration for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and his lavish castle in San Simeon, Hearst died in 1951 at the age