Link to Searcher source: (a great article that goes in-depth on the feudal parts of Citizen Kane’s production and release) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/kane-william-randolph-hearst-campaign-suppress-citizen-kane/

Today, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is an American classic. But back in the 50s, it was called “a vicious and irresponsible attack on a great man” (a real quote from critic Hedda Hopper, after arriving uninvited to an early screening of Citizen Kane). Welles’ film warranted so many scathing critiques for its uncanny comparison of Charles Foster Kane to William Randolph Hearst, a powerful newspaper magnate. Orson Welles played out Kane’s life in a way that captured the exact corruption, deception, and immorality in William Randolph Hearst. At the early screening where Hedda Hopper had her outburst, almost everyone else instantly knew that Welles had created a brilliant piece; that one promising boy had finally stuck it to the man.

Of course, after the release, Hearst responded no differently than from what I would have expected. Those in his empire tried to help him buy out the film, send blackmail, and set an agenda for the media. It worked well enough that Orson Welles didn’t gain widespread recognition for Citizen Kane until around 25 years after its release – but we know that Welles got his credit in the end. I was stunned to read this quote from producer Thomas Lennon in the PBS article, “Hearst and Welles were proud, gifted, and destructive – geniuses each in his way” (PBS). It kind of shocked me.

Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst shared a freakishly unparalleled ambition. So what, then, sets them apart? Hearst ran smear campaigns on whoever he liked, and he saw American media as a whiteboard. Welles saw cinema as a whiteboard (and ran somewhat of a smear campaign on Hearst himself). It’s hard, at least for me, to make a clear distinction between two men with the same levels of ambition. I do see Welles as a hero for trying to destroy the prevailing narrative surrounding Hearst – as it’s written in the article, Welles proved “no match for the old man” (PBS). I really enjoyed this piece, my favorite parts of reading the article were the quotes by people adjacent to Welles and Hearst.