赫斯特

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Hearst, William Randolph

美国报纸发行人。1887年接掌财政困难的《旧金山观察家》报纸,他成功把它改造为混合了深入报导和通俗投合时尚风格的报纸。1895年购买《纽约晨报》(後来改名《纽约美国人日报》),与其他家报社展开激烈的竞销战,并带头进入「黄色新闻」时代,所采用的提高发行量策略对美国的报业产生深厚的影响。赫斯特的报纸用歪曲夸大的报导煽动反西情绪,挑起了美西战争。後来当选众议员(1903~1907),但在谋求其他更高的政治地位方面并不成功。1920年代在加州圣西米恩兴建了一座富丽堂皇的城堡。1935年在其鼎盛时期,拥有二十八家大报、十八种杂志、数家广播电台、电影公司和新闻社。由於生活过度奢侈,以及经历了大萧条时期的不景气,使他的财务状况一落千丈。到1940年他对自己所创立的新闻王国已完全失去控制。晚年生活完全与世隔绝。

1863~1951年

Hearst, William Randolph

U.S. newspaper publisher. Born in San Francisco, Hearst in 1887 took over the struggling San Francisco Examiner, which he remade into a successful blend of investigative reporting and lurid sensationalism. After buying the New York Morning Journal (later New York Journal-American) in 1895, he fought fierce circulation wars with other papers and helped bring about the era of yellow journalism, employing circulation-boosting strategems that profoundly influenced U.S. journalism. Distorted reportage in Hearst papers fanned public sentiment against Spain that led to the Spanish-American War. He served in Congress (1903-7) but ran unsuccessfully for other offices. In the 1920s he built a grandiose castle in San Simeon, Cal. At the peak of his fortune in 1935 he owned 28 major newspapers, 18 magazines, radio stations, movie companies, and news services. Extravagance and the Depression weakened him financially, and by 1940 he had lost control of his empire. He spent his last years in virtual seclusion.