"Don't be afraid to make a mistake, your readers might like it"
About this Quote
Hearst is giving away the trick behind the curtain: in mass media, “mistake” can be a feature, not a bug. Coming from a publisher who helped engineer modern sensational journalism, the line isn’t a cozy pep talk about creative risk. It’s a cool appraisal of audience appetite and the business incentives that shape “truth” on the page.
The intent is double-edged. On the surface, it licenses boldness: publish fast, take swings, don’t freeze under the fantasy of perfect copy. Underneath, it’s a more cynical directive about attention economics before we had the term. Errors, exaggerations, and provocative misreads don’t merely slip through; they generate heat. Readers argue, letters pour in, rival papers respond, reputations polarize. That churn is circulation. Hearst knew that the public often confuses confidence with accuracy, and that an imperfect story with a strong angle can beat a perfect story no one feels.
The subtext also hints at control. “Your readers might like it” shifts accountability away from the writer’s ethics toward audience desire, as if demand absolves supply. It’s the logic that later becomes tabloid inevitability and, eventually, platform-era outrage: if the crowd clicks, the system rewards.
Context matters: Hearst built an empire when newspapers fought for dominance in crowded urban markets, where speed and spectacle could outweigh painstaking verification. The line captures that era’s brutal clarity: journalism isn’t just reporting events, it’s manufacturing attention - and attention doesn’t always care whether you were right.
The intent is double-edged. On the surface, it licenses boldness: publish fast, take swings, don’t freeze under the fantasy of perfect copy. Underneath, it’s a more cynical directive about attention economics before we had the term. Errors, exaggerations, and provocative misreads don’t merely slip through; they generate heat. Readers argue, letters pour in, rival papers respond, reputations polarize. That churn is circulation. Hearst knew that the public often confuses confidence with accuracy, and that an imperfect story with a strong angle can beat a perfect story no one feels.
The subtext also hints at control. “Your readers might like it” shifts accountability away from the writer’s ethics toward audience desire, as if demand absolves supply. It’s the logic that later becomes tabloid inevitability and, eventually, platform-era outrage: if the crowd clicks, the system rewards.
Context matters: Hearst built an empire when newspapers fought for dominance in crowded urban markets, where speed and spectacle could outweigh painstaking verification. The line captures that era’s brutal clarity: journalism isn’t just reporting events, it’s manufacturing attention - and attention doesn’t always care whether you were right.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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