Yellow Journalism

Media’s purpose?
 “the Watchdog”
 “the Fourth Estate”
 “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted”
 Does today’s media ever exaggerate?
 Misplace its focus?
 Should the media be held accountable?
 How?
 The Early Era of the Press
• The number of newspapers grew during the Penny
Press era until, come 1900, the number of English
speaking daily newspapers (not including weeklies
and foreign language dailies) grew to about 1,967.
• At about 1900 a new era of journalism started
forming called "New Journalism.
• Several strains of journalism began in this era and
one of them, at least, was the most colorful called
Yellow Journalism.
• The Spanish-American War is often referred to as
the first "media war.”
• During the 1890s, journalism that sensationalized—and sometimes
even manufactured—dramatic events was a powerful force that
helped propel the United States into war with Spain.
• Led by newspaper owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer, journalism of the 1890s used melodrama, romance, and
hyperbole to sell millions of newspapers--a style that became known
as yellow journalism.
• The term ‘yellow journalism’ came from a popular New York World
comic called "Hogan's Alley," which featured a yellow-dressed
character named the "the yellow kid.”
• Soon, the sensationalist press of the 1890s became a competition
between the (Hearst and Pulitzer) "yellow kids," and the journalistic
style was coined "yellow journalism."
 Yellow Journalism

• The term came from a popular cartoon character in newspapers

called "The Yellow Kid."
• But it is not a cartoon that the era was remembered for. Some
publishers became quite sensational and bold in their news
coverage.
• Papers were not above conducting hoaxes to trip up their
competitors and doing almost anything to build circulation.
• Reporters would act as detectives and solve crimes ahead of police
so that they could be the first to report the news.
• Perhaps two of the most well-known, most revered and most
despised publishers of the day were Joseph Pulitzer and William
Randolph Hearst.
• The two waged battle to become the most powerful publishers of all
time.
 The Yellow Kid
• In the late 1800’s, one of the best-known New
Yorkers was not a person at all. He was the
Yellow Kid, a character in a wildly popular
newspaper comic strip.
• For a time, the Yellow Kid appeared in 2
newspapers at once, the New York World and
the New York Journal.
Joseph Pulitzer
 Joseph Pulitzer
• Joseph Pulitzer was a Hungarian immigrant who
came to America to cover the American Civil War.
• He ended up in Missouri. While there he
purchased a dying newspaper, the St. Louis Post
and Dispatch
• He declared that the paper would be looking out
for the little guy and would become a champion for
the people against special interests.
• He was high on accuracy and felt that accuracy,
accuracy and accuracy were the three most
important things about newspapers.
 Joseph Pulitzer
• That is not to say that his paper did not have its
blemishes, but he developed an outstanding
reputation in the newspaper industry before
moving on to New York --the then Mecca of
journalism-- and bought the New York World.
• He hired the best reporters of the day and was the
one who started running the Yellow Kid cartoon
(William Randolph Hearst later stole the artist and
cartoon by offering higher pay. Hearst hired him
back with another pay raise.)
 Joseph Pulitzer
• To build readership he not only ran public concern causes, he
staged news stories designed to draw attention to his paper.
• For instance, he hired the female reporter --a novelty in itself
for the time-- Nelly Bly and commissioned her to challenge
Jules Vernes' book "Around the World in 80 Days."
• He sent her on an around-the-world trip and covered it as
though it was the most important news story of the day with
daily reports. A big contest was run to guess how much time it
would take here. (She did it in less than 80 days.)
• Pulitzer was hard nosed in his demands for good journalism
and today the highest awards a journalist can win for reporting
are the Pulitzer Prize.
• Still, he could and did exhibit corporate unscrupulousness.
 Newspaper War
• The struggle over the Yellow Kid was
part of a larger “newspaper war” in
New York City during the 1890s.
• Joseph Pulitzer, the publisher of the
World faced off against William
Randolph Hearst.
• The artist who created the Yellow Kid,
R.F. Outcalt, first sold his comic in 1895
to Pulitzer’s World.
• The comic was set in New York’s poor,
rough-and-tumble ethnic neighborhoods and
featured a bald-headed street urchin dressed
in a bright yellow nightshirt.
• The Yellow Kid was an instant success.
 Comic Strips
• Newspaper comics were new at the
time, and Pulitzer’s World enjoyed a
huge jump in sales.
William Randolph Hearst
 William Randolph Hearst
• Pulitzer's biggest competitor and clearly the most
colorful character in American journalism was William
Randolph Hearst.
• Hearst was born to a poor miner who came into
possession of the deed for the Mother Lode silver
mine, one of the richest strikes in America.
• He was sent to the best schools, and thrown out of
them because of his practical joke personality.
• His father parlayed his riches into a political career in
California.
• As was the practice of politicians of the day, he
purchased several newspapers to serve as a
mouthpiece for his political career.
 William Randolph Hearst

• Hearst talked his father into letting him take over running the
San Francisco Examiner.
• If Pulitzer's watchword was "accuracy," Hearst's was "Gee
Whiz!" He felt a day was lost if there wasn't something in the
paper that caused the reader to say "Gee Whiz!“
• He experimented with printing advances and made the
Examiner a powerful paper.
• But Hearst tired of San Francisco and moved to New York
and bought the Journal.
• He continued his campaigning ways, but on a national scale.
To make his paper stand out, he didn't just hire the best
reporters of the day, he hired Pulitzer's top reporters away.
 William Randolph Hearst

• War and Hearst were words that went together often.

• Many historians argue that the Spanish- American War was a result
of Hearst sensationalizing news of Cuban atrocities that may or
may not have happened.
• A popular, but probably apocryphal story is that he hired the great
artist Frederick Remington to go to Cuba and supply pictures of the
war there. Remington supposedly telegraphed back, "Hate to spend
your money. There is no war.“ To which Hearst is supposed to have
cabled back, "You supply the pictures. I'll supply the war." Soon
after the U.S. battleship "Maine“ blew up in the Havana harbor. It is
still a mystery as to whether the explosion was an act of war,
sabotage or an accident, but suddenly we were at war with the
Spanish in Cuba.
• Not to be outdone, Hearst lured Outcalt
to the Journal by promising him more
money.
• In response, Pulitzer hired another
cartoonist to draw his own version of
the cartoon.
 Yellow Papers
• Before long, the two newspapers were
flooded with images of the Yellow Kid
and became known as the “Yellow Kid
Papers” or “Yellow Papers.”
 Yellow Journalism
• The rivalry between the World and the
Journal extended beyond the Yellow Kid
cartoons.
• In their struggle to attract readers, the two
“Yellow Papers” developed an exaggerated
style of reporting.
• Their sensational news stories soon became
known as yellow journalism.
• Among these stories were news reports
about other countries.
• One favorite subject was the brutal
suppression of a rebellion in Cuba against
Spanish rule.
• Yellow journalism helped inflame public
support for going to war against Spain.
• The island of Cuba lies just 90 miles off the
coast of Florida, in the Caribbean Sea.
• It was founded as a Spanish colony by
Christopher Columbus in 1492 and later
became one of the world’s leading sugar
producers.
• Hundreds of thousands of slaves worked on
its plantations.
• For over three centuries, Cuba was part of
Spain’s vast empire.
• But by the late 1800s, there were just two
Spanish colonies in the Americas: the
islands of Puerto Rico and Cuba.
• A growing independence movement was
threatening Spanish rule in Cuba.
• During the 1800s, many Cubans had voiced a
desire for self-rule.
• In 1868, a revolutionary group made up of
poor whites, free blacks, and slaves
demanded independence from Spain,
including the end of slavery.
• Spain rejected these demands, eventually
crushing the revolt.
• Spain tried to ease tensions by agreeing to
limited government reforms.
• It gave Cubans some representation in the
government, and it abolished slavery in 1886.
• Meanwhile, Cuba was coming under the
economic influence of the United States.
• By the mid-1890s, American investment in
Cuba’s sugar plantations had reached
millions of dollars.
• American investors were therefore nervous
about the island’s political instability.
 Cuba Libra
• In 1895, Cubans rebelled again.
• This 2nd struggle for independence was
led by Jose Marti, a Cuban poet,
journalist, and statesman.
“Like bones to the human body…so is
liberty the essence of life. Whatever is
done without it is imperfect.”
– Jose Marti
• Forced to leave Cuba because of his
revolutionary activities.
• Marti lived in the U.S. from 1881 to 1895.
• Even while leaving in exile, Marti inspired his
fellow Cubans with calls for liberty.
• In 1895, Marti sailed back to Cuba to lead the
revolt but was soon killed in combat.
• The Cuban rebels engaged in guerilla
warfare, launching surprise attacks against
Spanish forces and fading back into the
countryside.
• In 1896, Spain sent a new commander,
General Weyler, to eliminate public support
for the rebels, Weyler forced thousands of
Cubans into concentration camps.
• These overcrowded, unsanitary prison
camps provided little food or shelter, causing
thousands of deaths from disease and
starvation.
• Many Americans sympathized with the
rebellion, seeing it as a struggle for
freedom, like the American Revolution.
• Meanwhile, investors feared that the
political unrest was putting their Cuban
investments and property at risk.
• Despite public calls for the U.S. to
intervene in Cuba, President Cleveland
followed a policy of strict neutrality.

President Cleveland
• When William Mckinley was elected
president in 1896, he hoped to maintain
neutrality.
• But that would be difficult as the public
increasingly called for the U.S. to help
the rebels.

President McKinley
• Most Americans learned about the events in
Cuba through newspapers and magazines.
• At the time, these were the only forms of
mass media – methods of communicating to
a mass (large) audience.
• Many newspapers were not as careful in their
reporting as they are today.
• To sell newspapers, publishers like Joseph
Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
sensationalized the news.
 “Please remain.
You furnish the
pictures and I'll
furnish the war.”

Hearst

- Replied William Randolph Hearst, when war

correspondent and illustrator Frederic Remington
telegraphed from Cuba reporting that no war was
imminent.
• Both the New York World and the New York
Journal saw reporting on the Cuban rebellion
as a good way to gain new readers.
• Reporters and artists were encouraged to
stretch the truth about the bravery of Cuban
rebels and the horrors of Spanish rule,
especially General “the Butcher” Wyler’s
brutality.
• Many readers were shocked by these
reports.
• Some demanded that the U.S. help Cuba win
independence.
• In this way, yellow journalism helped stir
public support for U.S. intervention to aid the
rebels.
 De Lome Letter
• On February 9, 1898, Hearst’s New York
Journal published a stolen letter written by
Spanish Ambassador de Lome, calling
President McKinley “weak and catering to
the rabble and, besides, a low politician.”
• Americans were offended by this criticism of
their president.
• The publishing of this letter intensified anti-
Spanish feelings in the U.S. and underscored
the power of the press to inflame public
opinion.
 “Remember the Maine”
• Not long after the De Lome affair, a much
more alarming incident occurred: the sinking
of the battleship USS Maine in Havana
harbor.
• Newspapers around the country responded
with calls of vengeance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0mjkLPvrQM
2 minutes
 USS Maine
• On February 15, a tremendous explosion
rocked the battleship.
• More than 260 sailors died form the blast.
• An official navy investigation began
immediately, but the Journal and other
newspapers immediately blamed Spain.
• Hearst’s paper published articles under such
headlines as “The Maine Was Destroyed by
Treachery” and “The Whole Country Thrills
with War Fever.”
• In March, the navy issued its report on the
sinking of the Maine. Though the evidence
was sketchy, navy investigators concluded
that the explosion was caused by an
underwater mine.
• The report did not suggest who was
responsible.
• In 1976, navy researchers who studied the
incident concluded that heat from a fire in a
coal bin exploded a nearby supply of
ammunition.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsnphotos/482097945/
• Despite McKinley’s attempt to avoid war by
armistice (a cessation of hostilities), under
great public pressure, he asks Congress to
declare war.
• Congress passed a resolution, a formal
statement about a course of action, recognizing
Cuban independence and authorizing military
force, if necessary, to liberate Cuba.
 Declaration of War
On April 25, 1898, Congress declares war
on Spain.
• American newspapers exaggerated stories
about the Cuban revolt to play on public
sympathies and sell newspapers.
• Yellow journalism helped push the country
toward war.

Nasty little printer's devils spew forth

from the Hoe press in this Puck cartoon
of Nov. 21, 1888.
The short war begins:
 People's Champions

• It is difficult to classify this era solely as "Yellow Journalism"

as there was much else going on.
• Known as People's Champions, Pulitzer and Hearst, whilst
part of the power elite, used their power to fight for causes
the common man would appreciate.
• This kind of journalism was popular outside of New York, too.
• One of the most well known publishers fitting into this
category who resisted the lure to operate out of New York
was E.W. Scripps, who ran a chain of mid-Western
newspapers in the Ohio area.
• The papers had a spirit of protest and featured hard-hitting
local editorials.
 People's Champions

• And it wasn't just the newspapers doing this.

• The general interest magazines of the day -- magazine such as
Cosmopolitan and Ladies Home Journal and Saturday Evening
Post -- also developed a trend of reporting called muckraking.
• Muckraking the beginnings of investigative journalism.
• Writers would do long stories --some even wrote books--
uncovering the seedy side of such icons of the day as John D.
Rockerfeller and Standard Oil, the Chicago beef industry, patent
medicine companies and more.
• The term derived from the concept that the pond may look clear, but
if you rake up the muck at the bottom you'll see how dirty things
really are.