The original clickbait king
Throughline

The original clickbait king

Apr 16, 2026 · 48 min

About this episode

When we call something "clickbait," we don't mean it as a compliment. But let's be real: we also click. It's hard to resist a spicy story, and 19th-century newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst knew it. At a time when most papers merely reported events, his papers created them, sending reporters out to perform daring rescues, solve sensational murders, and even meddle in geopolitics. Today on the show: the man who brought spectacle and scandal to the news — and changed journalism forever.<br/><br/><strong>Guests:</strong><br/><br/><strong>Karen Roggenkamp, </strong>professor of English at East Texas A&M University and author of <em>Narrating the News</em> and <em>Sympathy, Madness, and Crime</em><br/><br/><strong>W. Joseph Campbell,</strong> emeritus professor of communication at American University and author of <em>The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms</em> and <em>Lost in a Gallup: Polling Failure in U.S. Presidential Elections</em><br/><br/><em>To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at <a href="plus.npr.org/throughline"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/throughline</a>.</em><br/><br/>See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>