Yellow Journalism

“Yellow Journalism” is primarily known today for the role it played in shaping American
sentiments and helping thrust the U.S. into the Spanish-American War in Cuba and the
Philippines, leading to increased U.S. overseas
imperialism. It began, however, as a tactic used during
the New York newspaper circulation wars, particularly
by owners William Randolph Hearst and Joseph
Pulitzer, to entice readers to buy their newspapers.
They printed sensationalist headlines, articles, and
pictures which sought to appeal to readers’ emotions
and sense of outrage. Their approach was very
successful and by the 1890’s Pulitzer and Hearst were
selling millions of newspapers using this strategy.

The term “yellow journalism” originated from a conflict between Pulitzer
and Hearst. Pulitzer’s New York World ran a very popular comic called
“Hogan’s Alley,” featuring a character called “the yellow kid” who always
wore a bright yellow shirt. William Randolph Hearst paid the “Hogan’s
Alley” artist a higher salary to attract him onto the staff of his newspaper,
the New York Journal, instead. Hearst had the new yellow kid comics
drawn with more violence and popular culture, and they quickly became
more popular than the old. In response, Pulitzer hired a new artist to
imitate the original yellow kid comics in his paper – meaning for several
years the same character appeared in the two rival papers. The comics as well as the reporting
styles of the two newspapers became more and more sensationalized in their circulation wars,
and their journalistic style became known as “yellow journalism.”

The particular conditions of the U.S. in the 1890’s made yellow journalism’s explosive
popularity possible. Improvements in printing technology such as the widespread use of
typewriters made it easier to publish material faster, and the “half-tone
photograph” made it possible to print more and better pictures with the
news. Automobiles made for a more efficient delivery system, and the new
high-speed railroad system increased readership of top New York newspapers
from a local radius to a larger, more extensive network. City populations and
urbanization were growing exponentially, along with increasing basic literacy
rates. Newspaper owners realized that the old style of journalism – fact-based
periodic reporting aimed at the elite and well-educated – was not as
profitable as pumping out more frequent editions containing sensationalist
stories aimed at the less-educated.

Yellow journalism hit its peak in 1895 when a rebellion arose in Cuba against Spanish
colonialism. Spain responded harshly by instituting severe and inhumane policies and forced
around 300,000 rural Cubans into “reconcentration camps.” Conditions
were terrible and disease and starvation killed thousands. American
newspapers exploited the stories of Cuban abuses for profit, spinning
articles that sometimes exaggerated the already terrible true conditions.
(Some of the most fanciful of the stories include tales of Spanish officers
roasting Catholic priests alive and feeding babies to sharks.) William
Randolph Hearst went even further, realizing that if U.S. sympathies were
enflamed enough, a war could break out with Spain that would not only
continue to sell newspapers, but would also increase his political stature.
Hearst sent the famous artist Frederic Remington to Cuba to draw sketches for the stories.
When Remington observed that from what he saw, there was not much basis for war between
the US and Spain, Hearst allegedly said, “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”

In February 1898 a U.S. battleship, the Maine,
was blown up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba,
while waiting to evacuate Americans citizens.
260 American sailors died and Hearst’s
newspapers immediately blamed the Spanish,
although there was no evidence what caused
the explosion. The newspaper headlines’ calls
to “Remember the Maine!” were effective,
however, as U.S. public opinion hit a fever pitch
and in April 1898 war was declared against
Spain. Yellow journalism may not have directly started the war, but it undoubtedly created a
national mood in its favor. The origins of the Spanish-American were shaped by the
unprecedented role of the press, and the war’s impact was to shape the United States as an
emerging imperialistic world power.



 Yellow Journalism:
Blogging the Beginnings of the Spanish-American War

Congratulations, you have just been hired by William Randolph Hearst as a reporter for the New
York Journal!

Your first assignment is to write an article about the “reconcentration” camps into which
Spanish leaders forcibly moved Cubans during their rebellion. You have been provided with the
following account of the reconcentration camps, and you must repackage this information to fit
the yellow journalism style. Your article should include a headline and text of five to six
sentences. You do not have to include every single bit of information included in the account.
However, you should include the things that your readers will be most interested in.


Rubric:

A *Student shows excellent understanding of yellow journalism style
*Student incorporates information from the provided account
*Post is at least five to six sentences long
*Post includes headline
B *Student shows good understanding of yellow journalism style
*Student incorporates information from the provided account
*Post is at least five to six sentences long
*Post includes headline
C *Student shows minimal understanding of yellow journalism style
*Student incorporates information from the provided account
*Post is at least five to six sentences long
*Post includes headline
D *Student shows evidence of trying to incorporate yellow journalism style into post
*Student incorporates information from the provided account
*Post is less than fix to six sentences long
*Post includes headline
F *Student does not incorporate yellow journalism style into post
*Student does not effectively incorporate information from the provided account
*Post is only one or two sentences long
*Post does not include headline


By the late 1800s, the Spanish were losing control of their colony, Cuba. Concerned about
guerilla warfare in the countryside, they moved rural Cubans to “reconcentration” camps
where the Spanish claimed they would be better able to protect them. However, people around
the world saw newspaper reports that described horrible conditions in the camps for the Cuban
people, who were called “reconcentrados.” This account was forwarded to Washington, D.C. by
Fitzhugh Lee, who said its author was “a man of integrity and character.”

SIR:

[W]e will relate to you what we saw with our own eyes:

Four hundred and sixty women and children thrown on the ground, heaped pell-mell as
animals, some in a dying condition, others sick and others dead, without the slightest
cleanliness, nor the least help....

Among the many deaths we witnessed there was one scene impossible to forget. There is still
alive the only living witness, a young girl of 18 years, whom we found seemingly lifeless on the
ground; on her right-hand side was the body of a young mother, cold and rigid, but with her
young child still alive clinging to her dead breast; on her left-hand side was also the corpse of a
dead woman holding her son in a dead embrace....

The circumstances are the following: complete accumulation of bodies dead and alive, so that
it was impossible to take one step without walking over them; the greatest want of
cleanliness, want of light, air, and water; the food lacking in quality and quantity what was
necessary to sustain life....

From all this we deduct that the number of deaths among the reconcentrados has amounted
to 77 per cent.

Source: Excerpt from an unsigned enclosure with a telegram sent by Fitzhugh Lee, U.S. Consul-
General in Cuba, November 27, 1897. Havana, Cuba. Taken from historicalthinkingmatters.org.




 “Fake News”: The New Yellow Journalism?

Read the article: “For the ‘new yellow journalists’, opportunity comes in clicks and bucks”
then respond to the questions below.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-fake-news-yellow-journalists-20161121-
story.html

1. According to the article, what is the “new yellow journalism”? How is it similar to and
different from historical yellow journalism?
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2. How do Wade and Kelly manufacture stories? Why do you think their writing makes
so much money?
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3. How do Wade and Kelly justify their actions? Do you think what they’re doing is OK?
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4. Find an example on the internet of “fake news.” Copy the URL below:
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Then do the following:
a. Explain what the article is claiming
b. Research to provide evidence on which points are true/ false, and explain
c. Analyze how the article can be considered “yellow journalism”
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