How Does News Media Influence The American Revolution?

From the 17th century to present, media has taken many forms and has evolved to reach every American in every corner of the country. It has been inadvertently responsible for such events as colonization, the American Revolution, and the Spanish American War. The reason media is so powerful today is because through its various avenues, the United States is constantly bombarded by information and advertisements trying to influence us and sway our opinions about issues in certain directions. Before we get too in depth on the subject, we should have a general definition of what ‘media’ is. To put it simply, according to the Oxford Dictionary it is: The main means of mass communication. (especially television, radio, newspaper, and the internet

Methods of circulating ideas have been seen in a variety of forms, these forms utilized as tools to express specific messages throughout the years of American history. Experiencing how the spread of mental concepts and historically significant events coincide has earned the nation its current state. There’s a cycle between media and the primary events in the history of the United States, where an influence bounces between the two of them. When something momentous arises, the common reaction of media tools is to spread the news regarding it. Subsequently, the ideas stirred amongst individuals-as a result of the media-birth a reaction. The reaction brings about more significant events, owing to the fact that the origin of anything monumental

Upton Sinclair is most known for his criticisms of the meat packaging industry in his book The Jungle. For close to 2 months, Sinclair worked in a Chicago meat package plant in order to expose the hidden truths of the industry. This was one of the first examples of a journalist immersing themselves in the material coved in

The Jungle was one the most important sources in my paper. When the book was published, it caused a massive uproar in the United States which I believe was much of the reason Congress finally placed better standards in motion regarding food and drug regulations. Quoting from Upton Sinclair’s experience in the Chicago meat packing factory gives my paper primary information about the horrific conditions that Congress paid little mind to before 1906.

Ever since the 17th century, the newspaper has been produced and blown out of proportion, known as mass media. George A. Krimsky shines his own opinion in his essay, “The Role of the Media in a Democracy.” Krimsky provides many examples, reasoning, and rhetoric devices to expand his argument even more, his argument being that; the press should send out straight facts, let people interpret them, and allow the free press to hold the government accountable.

One reason that Yellow Journalism had such a large effect of the public was the article was organized and presented to readers. A substantial characteristic of yellow journalism was having scare headlines in large print. The papers would put an event that would easily grab the attention of the readers, and would word the headline to make the readers want to the full article. The general public had no idea that what they were reading was untrue, so Americans grew angry and started clamoring to go to war with Spain. An example of the newspapers using this tactic was when the New York Journal posted a paper which headlines read: “CRISIS AT HAND Cabinet In Session, Growing Belief In SPANISH TREACHERY.” 14 The paper specifically put parts of the sentence in capitals so that someone who was just scanning the paper would get two lines, “CRISIS AT HAND” and “SPANISH TREACHERY.” This strategy played a large part in causing the Spanish-American war because of the effect that it had on the public. Besides the title and front page format, newspapers were able to affect the

One of those important factors is Yellow Journalism. Yellow Journalism is a type of journalism or writing that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. It was pretty much stretching the truth to entertain readers or to get citizens to support someone on an issue. Yellow Journalism was also used to persuade U.S. citizens to support the war against Spain. Newspapers printed articles about how the United States wanted to help smaller countries that were being abused by Spain.

Publishing visionaries Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst dominated the American journalism industry in the mid 1890s, whilst competing for circulation in a bitter rivalry, widely considered as the greatest newspaper war in history. Their revolutionary advances in the use of sensationalist material within print gave birth to the concept of ‘yellow journalism’, compiled of a ‘toxic formula - one part news to one part hype’ (Streitmatter, 2011). This would have a monumental impact on society of the period and still has an enduring influence on the current world of journalism today. Their commitment to a fresh brand of crude and vicarious storytelling helped to evolve newspaper journalism by pushing its very limits, thus redefining news media. However, whilst both men are regarded as the leaders of this radical and far-reaching practice, only Joseph Pulitzer can be credited as the father and creator of the concept, which influenced Hearst rendering him the follower of the great publisher.

Yellow Journalism and the Spanish-American WarYellow journalism during the 1890’s, was used to propel the United States into the Spanish-American War. Yellow journalism is what we know today as “fake news”. The History3 Third edition by Schutz defines yellow journalism as “journalism that shows little dependence on fact or research and instead uses sensationalized headlines and cartoons to sell more newspapers or magazines (Schutz, 2014, 353)”. Yellow journalism was a contributing factor to the Spanish-American War because the news reported was embellished and sensationalized using eye-catching headlines and cartoons not researched or proven. The term “yellow journalism” began when the New York World comic called “Hogan’s Alley” published

In the mid-twentieth century, the news media were one of America’s most trusted institutions. The 1956 American National Election Study (ANES) found that 66% of Americans thought newspapers were fair, while only 27% said they were unfair. These views were bipartisan, with 78% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats viewing newspapers as fair. When the Roper Organization asked a similar question about network news in two 1964 polls, 71% and 61% of the public thought it was fair, while just 12% and 17% thought it was unfair. In 1973, when the General Social Survey (GSS) began regularly measuring con dence in various national institu- tions, only 15% of respondents had “hardly any” con dence in the press.

The peak of yellow journalism was in 1898 when the Maine sunk in Havana Harbor. Hearst and Pulitzer wrote that the sinking of the ship were caused by the Spaniards when in fact it was just a mine that brought the ship down. That was the initial cause of the Spanish- American War. In today’s society yellow journalism is still present in some cases. Journalists nowadays are sometimes biased and that is not showing the true facts of what is really going on, but only what the journalist feels as though is

The trail of John Peter Zenger contributed to the establishment of the freedom of the press. Newspapers were created for the purpose of sharing ideas as well as the news. In their attempt to explain the news, printers are also critical of the events which occur. They share their opinions and ideas without explicitly stating them. Through the use of their writing and language, they convince people to believe them and to agree with them. Nowadays, the media has the power to alter reality. It can mislead you with false information or provide information in its point of view. Since social media wasn’t widespread during the time, people spread ideas and thoughts through newspapers. The newspaper is one of the most powerful ways to spread ideas and

Hearst’s first took his first notorious step with his pilfering of all of Pulitzer’s editorial staff at the New York World, followed by Pulitzer’s rehiring, and Hearst’s second theft of the same journalists (Contemporary, “Joseph”). Pulitzer, as the originator of the colorful comics section in newspapers, made sure to keep “The Yellow Kid” comic strip in the New York World newspaper despite losing the original designer in Pulitzer’s continuing battle with Hearst (Squires). The fact that the battle went deep enough into the newspapers to affect the comics section helped historians coin the term “yellow journalism” as an idiom for how Hearst and Pulitzer ran their respective newspapers (Therkelsen 7).

It is no secret that the news has always been known to be bias toward a certain opinion, but experts can trace acts like this all the way back to the nineteenth century in early America (Thornton, 2016). During this time period most of the well-known newspapers were explicitly linked to political parties and economic interest. Respected historian Chilton Williamson writes this about the early 1900’s, “The presentation of facts simply as facts, editors and writers reasoned, cannot accomplish the exalted goal of saving civilization” (Thornton, 2016). But what if a leader comes along and believes that the best thing for their country is to use extreme media bias? In 1933 Adolf Hitler changed the meaning of media bias by completely controlling what people saw and read. Hitler eliminated papers against his control, and promoted the ones in favor. By doing this, he forced people to only see what news was being presented in one way, instead of an accurate and fair representation of the entire news (The Press in the Third Reich). This statement is not insinuating that bias with Nazi Germany is the same as modern America, but it is suggesting that bias amongst media allows for a misrepresentation of the truth to the people.

Yellow journalism was a major issue in the late 1890s during the Spanish-American War. The purpose of yellow journalism is to use headlines and report sensational events that draws the attention of the audience in order to sell more newspapers, even if the facts used were not legitimate. Yellow journalism came to an end with the development of objective journalism, which reports facts that are not biased. With the rise of social media, yellow journalism and “fake news” are making a comeback and becoming a “norm” in modern society. The rise of social media is contributing to the amount of yellow journalism and fake news that is occurring, which is ultimately leading to party polarization.