Editing William Randolph Hearst (section)

== Criticism ==
In the 1890s, the already existing anti-Chinese and anti-Asian racism in San Francisco were further fanned by Hearst's anti-non-European descents, which were reflected in the rhetoric and the focus in the ''[[San Francisco Examiner|Examiner]]'' and one of his own signed editorials.<ref name="pbsdoc1">{{cite AV media |people=[[Amanda Pollak (film director)|Amanda Pollak]], [[Stephen Ives]]|date=September 27, 2021|title=Citizen Hearst: An American Experience Special, Part I|trans-title= |type=Documentary |language=en |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/citizen-hearst/#part01|access-date=October 15, 2021 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format=video with transcript  |time= |location= |publisher=[[PBS]] |id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }}</ref> These prejudices continued to be the mainstays throughout his journalistic career to galvanize his readers’ fears.<ref name="pbsdoc1"/> Hearst staunchly supported the [[Internment of Japanese Americans|Japanese-American internment]] during [[World War II|WWII]] and used his media power to negatively portray Japanese Americans and to garner support for the internment of Japanese-Americans.<ref name="pbsdoc2">{{cite AV media |people=[[Amanda Pollak (film director)|Amanda Pollak]], [[Stephen Ives]]|date=September 27, 2021|title=Citizen Hearst: An American Experience Special, Part II|trans-title= |type=Documentary |language=en |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/citizen-hearst/#part02|access-date=October 15, 2021 |archive-url= |archive-date= |format=video with transcript |time= |location= |publisher=[[PBS]] |id= |isbn= |oclc= |quote= }}</ref>

Some media outlets have attempted to bring attention to Hearst's involvement in the prohibition of cannabis in the United States. Hearst collaborated with [[Harry J. Anslinger]] to ban [[hemp]] due to the threat that the burgeoning [[hemp paper]] industry posed to his major investment and market share in the [[paper mill]]ing industry. Due to their efforts, hemp would remain illegal to grow in the US for almost a century, not being legalized until 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.com/2018/12/19/reefer-madness-and-other-lies/ |title=Reefer Madness' and Other Lies |author1=Amy Marie Orozco |author2=Tina Fanucchi-Frontado |date=December 19, 2018 |work=Santa Barbara Independent |access-date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190705233633/https://www.independent.com/2018/12/19/reefer-madness-and-other-lies/ |url-status=live |archive-date=July 5, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite interview |author=Dr. David Musto |year=1998 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/interviews/musto.html |title=Dr. David Musto Interview |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |access-date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190705233633/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/interviews/musto.html |url-status=live |archive-date=July 5, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Tony Newman |date=January 3, 2013 |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/drug-war-consequences_b_2404347 |title=Connecting the Dots: 10 Disastrous Consequences of the Drug War |work=HuffPost |access-date=July 5, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190623232618/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/drug-war-consequences_b_2404347 |url-status=live |archive-date=June 23, 2019}}</ref>

As [[Martin A. Lee|Martin Lee]] and [[Norman Solomon]] noted in their 1990 book ''Unreliable Sources'', Hearst "routinely invented sensational stories, faked interviews, ran phony pictures and distorted real events".

Hearst's use of yellow journalism techniques in his ''New York Journal'' to whip up popular support for U.S. military adventurism in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines in 1898 was also criticized in [[Upton Sinclair]]'s 1919 book, ''[[The Brass Check]]: A Study of American Journalism''. According to Sinclair, Hearst's newspapers distorted world events and deliberately tried to discredit socialists. Another critic, [[Ferdinand Lundberg]], extended the criticism in ''Imperial Hearst'' (1936), charging that Hearst papers accepted payments from abroad to slant the news. After the Second World War, a further critic, [[George Seldes]], repeated the charges in ''Facts and Fascism'' (1947). Lundberg described Hearst as "the weakest strong man and the strongest weak man in the world today... a giant with feet of clay."<ref name="Victoria Kastner 2000" />