YELLOW

JOURNALIS
M: THE
DARK SIDE
OF MEDIA

Submitted by: Aastha Tiwari

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………5

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 Meaning and Scope…………………………………………………………………..................5

Emergence of Yellow Journalism……………………………………………….…………....5-7

CAUSES OF YELLOW JOURNALISM……………….………………………………….……7-8

YELLOW JOURNALISM IN INDIA……….………….………………….………...……8-11

CONCLUSION……………………………….……………………………………………......12-13

BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………..….14

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 ACKNOWLEGEMENT

With profound gratitude and sense of indebtedness, I place on record my sincerest thanks to Dr.
(Prof.) Mukesh Shrivastava for his valuable guidance, sound advice and affectionate attitude
during the course of my research. It is due to his patience guidance that have been able to
complete the task.

I also express my regards to the Library Staff for cooperating with me and making available the
books for this research.

Aastha Tiwari

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 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
To find out how Yellow Journalism evolved in India and abroad. Its reasons and consequences.
Methods by which it can prevented or regulated.

HYPOTHESIS
The researcher proceeds with the hypothesis that yellow journalism distorts the construction of
democracy.

RESEARCH QUESTION
 What is Yellow Journalism?
 The recent cases of Yellow Journalism in India?
 How can Yellow journalism be regulated?

SOURCES

The researcher has relied upon the preliminary and secondary resources of books, reports,
recommendation, journals and articles and web sources.

MODE OF CITATION
A uniform method of citation is followed throughout this paper.

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 INTRODUCTION
Meaning and Scope of Yellow Journalism

Yellow journalism is the use of lurid features and sensationalized news in newspaper publishing
to attract readers and increase circulation. The phrase was coined in the 1890s to describe the
tactics employed in the furious competition between two New York City newspapers, the World
and the Journal. The definition of Yellow Journalism states that Yellow journalism, or the yellow
press, is a type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate well-researched news and
instead uses eye-catching headlines to sell more newspapers. Techniques may include
exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. Yellow journalism is not a
pure version of journalism rather a pure version of Business. Some news channels and
newspapers still think that anything can be sold in the wrapper of Breaking News. Indian TV
takes the viewers for granted and serves just about anything to them in the name of news.
Journalism is a very important thing —it is one of the pillars of democracy. Both media and the
audience have a joint responsibility of keeping journalism up to the mark.

Emergence of Yellow Journalism

Yellow journalism emerged in the mid-1890s in New York City and was associated with the
writing tactics of two renowned journalists, William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal
and Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World. Hearst and Pulitzer were bitter rivals in the
publishing world and they battled hard for circulation. Fast forward to the digital era and the new
faces of yellow journalism come in the form of ‘clickbait’ and ‘fake news’. Clickbait was born
under the commercial pressure that the age of hyper connectivity brought to newsrooms. Editors
were supposed to monetize on information, despite the fact it became so easily accessible for
free. They had to find a way to generate revenue and keep their publishing business afloat while
also competing for readers’ attention. The answer was simple: turn to clickbaits and
advertisements. Ads have been the unfortunate lifeblood of many publishing businesses, so in
this equation – clicks mean money. But clickbait can’t last. Clickbait confirms that, just because
something attracts one’s attention – doesn’t mean it’s worthy of it.

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Fake news is far more dangerous for readers compared to clickbait articles. The latter might
cause frustration and provide a poor experience, but the former can leave people misinformed
about significant current affairs.

Throughout history, media has been used and misused to shape public opinion. It enabled
propaganda machines (and sometimes was the propaganda outlet itself), pushed often harmful
political agendas forward, and fabricated reality. The only difference now is that fake news is far
more shareable thanks to online media and requires far fewer resources to produce and
disseminate. Research has shown fake news travel six times faster compared to fact-based news.

We tend to blame the Internet for these phenomena and point the finger at the rotten digital
publishing businesses when in fact – it’s more complex than that. We all participate in this
ecosystem. Every time you share something sensational without validating the source, or every
time you do click to find out “how this one secret ingredient will help you lose 35 kg in a month”
– you actually play your part as the recipient of this low-level content.

Nothing ever happens in a vacuum-people’s participation in yellow journalism

When the line between the truth and a lie gets paper thin as to become practically invisible, it’s
almost inevitable that readers will either buy into the illusion or remain confused about what is
true. Because so many outrageous and incredible things are happening in the world, we have
become a bit numb and far harder to shock. Our bar for believing something that simply cannot
be – has dropped terribly low, and we have entered the infamous post-truth era.

Most frequently tied to a political context, post-truth has become the buzzword of the 21st
century. In fact, it was Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year in 2016 which explained it as an
adjective “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in
shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” The media plays an
important role in building and maintaining the post-truth world, which is why some believe
journalists have fallen at the bottom of the ladder, on a par with politicians, in terms of public
trust. To shine a different light on what the post-truth is about, we can use one historical and one
movie reference:

The Big Lie, propaganda technique introduced by Hitler and used by the Nazis

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Famous drama movie A Few Good Men, in which Jack Nicholson plays Colonel Jessup who
under interrogation yells the much-quoted sentence: “You can’t handle the truth!”

The Big Lie referred to using a certain outrageous lie and distributing it as the truth. The lie
would be so colossal that the public had no choice but to perceive it as true, given the fact it was
humanly incomprehensible that someone could distort the truth so deeply. Also, repetition plays
an important part in transforming a lie into a truth, which is something many politicians are well
aware of. The post-truth world and its malicious actors know how to take advantage of the
techniques and rhetoric that reminiscence the Big Lie. We know that media can be manipulative.
But it can also misinform by accident and act inadvertently, led by the desire to be the fastest to
get a certain story in front of their readers. But, what about the audience? How do they handle
false news?

Shockingly enough, readers are not very good at spotting fake news. So now, we must explain
how confirmation bias works. Humans tend to favor the type of information that aligns well with
their existing beliefs and biases. When we encounter a story we like, we will probably accept it
without a dash of criticism. In fact, we might reject other stories that contradict it or choose to
ignore them. This can happen consciously or without us even realizing it. Either way, it is quite
dangerous. If we turn truth into a matter of choice, it will become meaningless. Yellow press and
online media that distribute fake news and use sensationalism as a growth tactic, act as catalysts
in this context. They enable misinformation and weaken our ability to think critically, making the
post-truth world the only place we can inhabit.

CAUSES OF YELLOW JOURNALISM

Yellow Journalism is a mutated division of Journalism that goes against the key principles of
reporting as an unbiased and objective tool for conveying the news. Yellow journalism ‘believes’
in a gross misreporting and under-reporting of facts, in playing up news that is likely to create a
frenzy, stringing an emotional chord with the masses, feeding the appetite for sensationalism,
scandal mongering and exciting public opinion. India has increasingly fallen prey to this
contagion and stands today under its heavy and gaudy canvas. Distinguished and renowned
media people, writers, correspondents and editors have routed to garish and often lewd news
items with each channel in a rush to ‘break’ news or catch an exclusive which flash far too often
to be taken seriously. Controversy is not allowed to take its usual course and die a natural death;

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it is instead dredged up and twisted to keep animate and breathing. One of the commonest tricks
of the trade is to give prominence to selective stories that serve the channel’s objectives better.
So, a negative story that occurs in a state that is ruled by a political outfit not favored by the
channel is blown out of proportions; given prominence over other stories which may actually be
far more important. By manipulating weights in this manner, media outlets create biased
perceptions of what is going on in the country.

YELLOW JOURNALISM CASES IN INDIA

Case no.1: Defamation case filed against ‘The Wire’

Recently, The Supreme Court expressed concern over the “rise of yellow journalism” which it
said was damaging institutions and maligning people and added that the issue needed to be
examined. It said freedom of press was supreme but it could not be one-way traffic. A bench of
Justices Arun Mishra, M R Shah and B R Gavai passed the remarks while hearing an appeal filed
by news portal ‘The Wire’ and its journalists who are facing a defamation suit filed by Jay Shah,
son of home minister Amit Shah.

Jay Shah had moved the lower court alleging defamation by the news portal and its journalists
after an article claimed that his company’s turnover grew exponentially after the BJP-led
government came to power at the Centre in 2014. Although the bench allowed the portal’s plea
to withdraw its appeal against the Gujarat high court’s gag order on publishing of the article, it
disapproved the practice followed by media houses to give short notice of a few hours to people
to respond before filing a story against them.

“The institution has suffered a lot. We have suffered. How has this culture come up in India.
Why should we not take the issue suo motu and settle it. It is most unfortunate that an important
case is being withdrawn. We want his matter to be decided. We are worried as judges of this
court,” the bench said when senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the portal, urged the court
to allow it to withdraw the petitions.

Case no. 2: Sexual Harassment case against then Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi

In another case, while reporting the sexual harassment case against CJI Ranjan Gogoi some news
portals gave a short time to the SC registry to respond and, then, went ahead to post the report,

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however, the bench did not explicitly refer to that episode. “This is a serious issue and it has to
be examined. This is nothing but yellow journalism” the bench said, while allowing the petitioner
to withdraw the appeal but kept the larger issue open for adjudication in appropriate proceedings.
Sibal agreed with the bench’s concern and said he was ready to assist the court on the issue. The
bench allowed the portal to withdraw the petition and face proceedings in the trial court. It,
however, asked the trial judge to decide the case on merit without being influenced by the
Supreme Court’s observations.

Case 3: Rape of a 28- day old baby girl

 “A 28-day old baby girl raped by a 25-year old man in Bulandsar, UP” made headlines all over
the Internet and the social media. Even though this is not physically possible there has been quite
a lot of news reports about this all over the internet, gaining a huge amount of Internet publicity
and reaction. Given that the news piece first came into view after Times of India (TOI) published
it in their news webpage. According to the article posted on the Times Of India (TOI) webpage
dated December 6,2015, A 20-year-old man from Bulandshahr’s Ramghat village was booked on
charges of raping a 28-day-old infant. A case has been filed against accused Navin Jatav under
section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code. 

The article also mentions that the baby was profusely bleeding and taken to government hospital
Khurja by the parents where doctors seeing her condition referred to higher care center.
In another article, dated December 7,2015 the infant was allegedly raped by a 25-year-old man in
village Asif Nagla, under Khurja Dehat police station.
The incident took place on Sunday when parents of the 28-days-old girl child had gone to cast
their vote for Gram Pradhan elections.

Major Red lights in the case:

The case is physically impossible to take place- Anybody from basic common sense can
conclude that it is physically impossible for this case to take place, the baby would not even
survive the rape.

The Times of India webpage, published two reports on the case stating different name and age of
the alleged rapist: It is evident from the case that the two reports posted online had contradicting

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points, which cannot be discarded as honest mistakes. In the first article posted on December 6,
2015 the alleged was named Navin Jatav, 20-years of age belonging to Bhulandsar’s Ramghat
village, whereas in the second report posted on December 7,2015 the alleged age was changed to
25-years old, not only this they even changed his residence to Asif Nagla village.

Original police investigation showed that police had their doubts about the case, but it was not
mentioned by the TOI report. An international news website International Business Times stated
in their report, dated December 9, 2015, dated December 9, 2015 that the police doubted the
veracity of a claim made by the couple in Ramghat village near the northern Indian town of
Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh that their 28-day-old baby was raped by a villager. The police said
it could be just a case of political vendetta. The infant’s parents claimed that the child was found
bleeding profusely while the suspect was spotted loitering near their house. The couple alleged
that the suspect broke into their house and raped their daughter when they were out voting in
local elections. the local police found several inconsistencies in the parents’ statements, and a
local hospital has not confirmed that it was not a case of rape. Police suspect that since the
accused and the complainants belong to rival political factions, it might be a ploy to settle scores.
But the TOI webpage clearly steered past this revelation, as they did not mention about the
above-mentioned points. Indian express and TOI stated the baby was found profusely bleeding,
whereas no other report states such findings. Both Indian express and TOI stated that the infant
was found, profusely bleeding. Other news articles surrounding this case, did not mention
anything about the baby profusely bleeding. This can be regarded as the imagination of the
reporters, to sell their news.

However the news sites missed to answer some simple questions. The report does not say that
doctors confirmed rape, however, the headline said so without any basis. The Indian Express
‘added’ the fact that the baby was “profusely” bleeding in their report, just to make it more
realistic. Question is why didn’t other newspapers say that the baby was profusely bleeding? Or
was it only Indian Express’ express imagination? when mainstream media failed in their duty
and showed highest level of unprofessional behavior, an independent journalist Deepika Narayan
Bhardwaj from Delhi reached the Bulandshar police and asked the basic questions and came to
know that the bleeding was not confirmed by the doctors as she had updated on her Facebook.
Deepika’s findings were confirmed by another media report by Hindustan Times.

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 Regulate the law: Need of the hour

Apart from the above mentioned cases, there are many other instances of yellow journalism in
India, for example, the live extensive coverage of Taj Mumbai terror attack (may be at the cost
of national security issues), extensive coverage of Aarushi murder issue (may be at the cost of
breach of privacy laws), extensive coverage of Nirbhaya rape issue (may be at the cost of
conducting a media trial and prejudice to the accused), etc. Now, the issue is who will cure this
rot? Presently there are only some self-styled/self-regulatory mechanisms in place (like the
Broadcasting Content Council, News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), etc) and a
toothless Press Council of India. There is a need for a single, external, and strong statutory
regulator for all modes of media which can order penal actions, if the any media resorts to yellow
journalism. The Media cannot hide behind the garb of freedom of speech because the Article
19(2) of the Constitution itself allows curbs on this right in the public interest. Self-Regulation
for the Media has failed in India. There is a need for an external statutory regulator.

The Media in India has time and again crossed the lakshman-rekha (solemn boundary) of the
privacy laws. In Rajgopal v. State of Tamil Nadu1, the Supreme Court has observed that a citizen
has a fundamental right to safeguard the privacy of his own, his family, marriage, procreation,
motherhood, child bearing and education. None can publish anything concerning the above
matters without his consent. This law is presently not followed by the media. Hence, the facade
of self-regulation and liberty of the media cannot be allowed to provide a shield to the media to
infringe the rights of the others.  The Media is called the Fourth Estate. If it has the de-facto right
to act as the Fourth Estate, it must also abide by the responsibilities of being the Fourth Estate.
Media in India, without a real and independent external regulator, is against the interest of its
readers who may be misled by its resort to the yellow journalism.

1
Rajgopal v. State of Tamil Nadu [(1994) 6 SCC 632]

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 CONCLUSION

When someone who is supposed to be the guardian of truth lies to you or betrays your trust,
unintentionally or on purpose – it’s not that hard to see it brings a fiery issue to the fore.
Metaphorically speaking, giving children too much candy results in tummy aches and rotten
teeth, and you’ll get similar effects by feeding readers with bombastic headlines that tickle their
primitive curiosity and make their hearts race for all the wrong reasons. So, we have established
that yellow journalism, fake news, and clickbait articles are bad. But, how are journalists
supposed to earn a profit?

Ads are already half-extinct as users have developed banner blindness and don’t even register
them anymore. For media outlets that function within the private sector, it can get pretty tough
out there, money-wise. However, there are sustainable business models that work. Established
names such as The Guardian or The Local have proven that memberships can generate
significant revenue while strengthening the relationship with readers, and native advertising can
provide both value and profit.

Back in the day, publishers turned to sensationalism because they were pursuing volume, which
made sense in that advertising system (despite the fact it was unethical). Today, optimizing for
volume is not a very successful monetization strategy. Things have changed: you have to think
about nurturing meaningful relationships with your readers, earning and preserving their trust,
not just increasing the number of daily visits. Now that the new paid model of content has
emerged, publishers have an important task: they need to optimize for quality. And what a
challenge this is! It requires a completely different approach to measuring content success, which
is a revolution we at Content Insights are trying to bring forward with our editorial intelligence
tool. Publishers need to move away from yellow journalism and providing cheap thrills and
focus on bolstering their integrity in the digital arena. This is important, not just for the sake of
business continuity, but for the sake of keeping the public properly informed too. The news
reporters clearly knew how to get a widespread reaction out of people, given the case according
to reports occurred during gram panchayat elections in UP, rape being a very sensitive issue in
the country was used very efficiently as a means to publish this news. This news piece gained
immense public views and rants on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. The media in
India, in a number of ways, exists as a degraded inferior version of itself, compromised in its

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ethics, stirring panic and grappling for attention in ways that should have been outgrown long
ago. India as a newly born country needs pure unbiased news of relevance. As all infants, Young
India can’t always be expected to tell the difference between what it needs to know and what it
wants to know. One would expect the experienced media moguls to be in a better place to decide
upon what news deserves notice and what can be thwarted. But perhaps this discretion is blurrier
than anticipated. India needs facts, not biased opinions. Our media needs not to stand big and
looming, but instead, to mature and grow.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Bleyer, Willard G. Main Currents in the History of American Journalism. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1927.
 Campbell, W. Joseph (2001). Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the myths, defining the
legacies. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 156–160. ISBN 0-275-96686-0.
 Campbell, W. Joseph. Yellow Journalism. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2001.
 Cohen, Daniel. Yellow Journalism. Brookfield, Conn.: Twenty-First Century Books, 2000.
 Stephen L. Vaughn, Encyclopedia of American journalism (2008) p. 608

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