William Randolph Hearst Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Expansion == [[File:Hearst 1906 Wizard of Ooze.jpg|thumb|Cartoonist [[William Allen Rogers]] utilizing the [[Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz|political uses of Oz]], depicting Hearst as the [[Scarecrow (Oz)|Scarecrow]] stuck in his own oozy mud in a 1906 edition of ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'']] In part to aid in his political ambitions, Hearst opened newspapers in other cities, among them Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston. In 1915, he founded [[International Film Service]], an [[animation studio]] designed to exploit the popularity of the comic strips he controlled. The creation of his Chicago paper was requested by the [[Democratic National Committee]]. Hearst used this as an excuse for his mother Phoebe Hearst to transfer him the necessary start-up funds. By the mid-1920s he had a nationwide string of 28 newspapers, among them the ''[[Los Angeles Examiner]]'', the ''[[Boston American]]'', the ''[[Atlanta Georgian]]'', the ''[[Chicago Examiner]]'', the ''[[Detroit Times]]'', the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'', the ''[[Washington Times-Herald]]'', the ''[[Washington Herald]]'', and his flagship, the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]''. Hearst also diversified his publishing interests into book publishing and magazines. Several of the latter are still in circulation, including such periodicals as ''[[Cosmopolitan (magazine)|Cosmopolitan]]'', ''[[Good Housekeeping]]'', ''[[Town & Country (magazine)|Town and Country]]'', and ''[[Harper's Bazaar]]''. In 1924, Hearst opened the ''[[New York Daily Mirror]],'' a racy [[Tabloid (newspaper format)|tabloid]] frankly imitating the ''[[New York Daily News]].'' Among his other holdings were two news services, Universal News and [[International News Service]], or INS, the latter of which he founded in 1909.<ref name="time com">{{cite magazine|title=The Press: New York, May 24 (UPI) |magazine=Time |date=June 2, 1958 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893956,00.html|access-date=Mar 17, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110131184143/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,893956,00.html |archive-date=January 31, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He also owned INS companion radio station [[WINS (AM)|WINS]] in New York; [[King Features Syndicate]], which still owns the copyrights of a number of popular comics characters; a film company, [[Cosmopolitan Productions]]; extensive New York City real estate; and thousands of acres of land in California and Mexico, along with timber and mining interests inherited from his father. Hearst promoted writers and cartoonists despite the lack of any apparent demand for them by his readers. The press critic [[A. J. Liebling]] reminds us how many of Hearst's stars would not have been deemed employable elsewhere. One Hearst favorite, [[George Herriman]], was the inventor of the dizzy comic strip ''[[Krazy Kat]].'' Not especially popular with either readers or editors when it was first published, in the 21st century, it is considered a classic, a belief once held only by Hearst himself. In 1929, he became one of the sponsors of the first round-the-world voyage in an airship, the [[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|LZ 127 ''Graf Zeppelin'']] from Germany. His sponsorship was conditional on the trip starting at [[Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst|Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey]]. The ship's captain, [[Hugo Eckener|Dr. Hugo Eckener]], first flew the ''Graf Zeppelin'' across the Atlantic from Germany to pick up Hearst's photographer and at least three Hearst correspondents. One of them, [[Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay]], by that flight became the first woman to travel around the world by air.<ref name="Time">{{cite magazine |title=Los Angeles to Lakehurst |magazine=Time |date=September 9, 1929 |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737828,00.html|access-date=Jun 2, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080603214015/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737828,00.html |archive-date=June 3, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Hearst news empire reached a revenue peak about 1928, but the economic collapse of the [[Great Depression in the United States]] and the vast over-extension of his empire cost him control of his holdings. It is unlikely that the newspapers ever paid their own way; mining, ranching and forestry provided whatever dividends the Hearst Corporation paid out. When the collapse came, all Hearst properties were hit hard, but none more so than the papers. Hearst's conservative politics, increasingly at odds with those of his readers, worsened matters for the once great Hearst media chain. Having been refused the right to sell another round of bonds to unsuspecting investors, the shaky empire tottered. Unable to service its existing debts, Hearst Corporation faced a court-mandated reorganization in 1937. From that point, Hearst was reduced to being an employee, subject to the directives of an outside manager.<ref name="time1937">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,770685,00.html |magazine=Time |title=The Press: American's End |date=July 5, 1937 |access-date=April 24, 2008 |archive-date=June 3, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603214020/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,770685,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Newspapers and other properties were liquidated, the film company shut down; there was even a well-publicized sale of art and antiquities. While World War II restored circulation and advertising revenues, his great days were over. The [[Hearst Corporation]] continues to this day as a large, privately held [[media conglomerate]] based in New York City. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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