Hearst’s publication empire, which had a major influence on public opinion, was used to run propaganda and “yellow journalism” to shape public perceptions, as his papers reportedly had over 20 million readers. Publishers like Hearst and Pulitzer had a vested interest in propagandizing the public in an effort to criminalize cannabis for their own personal financial motives, as a move toward hemp would have required the newspaper industry to shift operations from using tree pulp to hemp pulp for use in their publications.

The reason it was called "yellow journalism" was that Hearst's wood pulp paper quickly yellowed due to the acid content, most all wood pulp paper all disintegrates in 100 years or less. All of the books from the 20th century will be gone in a few decades. The reason he cared so much was that he owned the patents for the process to make paper from wood pulp and the paper mills and even a lot of the timber so by banning hemp paper he was essentially creating a monopoly on all paper for himself. Hearst's banker's nephew just happened to be Anslinger.