Thankful for Hearst's Commitment to Journalism

This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for many things.  One of those is the tenacity with which my employer HEARST supports the ethic of an independent press.  In his final will and testament, William Randolph Hearst* specified that his newspapers should continue to be operated for as long as the company stands with a focus on "vigorous, independent, and American" journalism.

Today, the HEARST's newspaper company has 24 dailies and 52 weeklies.  Operation of those business remains fully within HEARST core business and principles of curating accurate and reliable information to benefit communities and the human condition.  HEARST has invested in a central data hub to provide its newspapers (and other consumer media businesses) with top shelf research capacity for investigative journalism.

George Hearst III, in a Times-Albany News (the paper for which he is publisher) July 2024 article on legacy media noted, "My biggest concern today is that many newspapers and even large chains have been acquired by private equity firms that are just hollowing out these newsrooms and these news operations. And they have no interest in the mission of what journalism is all about, which in my view undergirds our democracy that’s been passed down from generation to generation. Are we the generation that might be held responsible for fumbling that awesome responsibility?"

In that article, commenting on the benefits of being under the umbrella of a larger company he also noted, "legal resources of the Office of General Counsel of Hearst standing behind us bolsters my confidence that the pursuit of the truth in our very talented newsrooms is on terra firma."  The office I support has one of the most talented litigator teams specializing in the First Amendment in the country, which gives our newsrooms the confidence that so long as they lead with facts, HEARST has their back.