Yellow Journalism was a form of newspaper that told outrageous stories to catch the readers’ eye. Newspaper publishers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer II used the form of journalism as a marketing campaign to get customers, in order to buy their newspapers. They include stories, drawings, and cartoons. Instead, the journal gave birth to modern-day investigative Journalism. It was during the 1890s, this newspaper would cause a war between the United States and Spain. What would plunge America into the Spanish-America was that “William Randolph Hearst wrote a story of America in a war with Cuba, which he said would not just sell millions of papers, but make him the head honcho of the newspaper business.” Although the journal is influence to future news stories, some modern critics have considered Yellow Journalism as disclosure of privacy. According to Vanaik, “Yellow journalism must be opposed, but it is astonishing that methods that restrict the democratic rights of freedom of the press and journalists, specifically the right of journalists to protect their sources, should be advocated to tackle problems which should and can be dealt with by methods when are not restrictive of basic liberties.” Provided, Hearst “made reports to depict the Cubans as savages, who made their women slaves, host public executions, and that a rebellion for independence caused war to break out in Cuba. However, Hearst’s depiction of Cuba would not be the main cause of America’s
The first cause of the Spanish American War was the yellow journalism. The yellow journalism was written to enrage readers about Valeriano Weyler’s brutality. Some of the things that was said was the children were thrown to the sharks. This caused America’s sympathy for Cuba to grow larger.
Cuba “held an economical potential that attracted American business interests and a strategic significance for any Central American canal” (Goldfield, Abbott and Anderson, p 638). Cuban rebellion “erupted again in 1895 in a classic guerrilla war… [and] American economic interests were seriously affected” (book pg638). The Spaniards started confining the locals to concentration camps “where tens of thousands died of starvation and disease” (book pg 638). This gained a lot of publicity throughout America as journalist’s were reporting the harsh treatment, which helped persuade our nation to intervene. Furthermore, this led to growing tension between Spain and
In the mid-1800s, Spain ruled the island of Cuba. the United States, at that time, received most of Cuba's exports, and they supported the Cuban independence movement; if Cuba was independent, then the United States would benefit from the country. Soon, the big U.S. presses, such as The New York Journal and The New York World, knew that the event was in the people's feelings. They sensationalized their headlines and graphic features to attract readers, which soon was known as "yellow journalism". The press also knew a lot of the reader's interests, and they exaggerated their news. During the January of 1898, the United States sent the USS Maine, which is a battleship, to Havana, which is the capital of Cuba, in order to halt the riots between
Yellow Journalism is a type of publishment in the newspaper that seems to be nothing more than a huge exaggeration to grab the reader's attention. An article like this is meant to catch the eyes of a customer and increase newspaper sales. The document I reviewed was an article in a newspaper from late in the 1800’s. The newspaper headline is titled, “Maine Explosion caused by Bomb or Torpedo?” There were many debates about who blew up the Battleship of Maine and how it happened.
The American journalist and politician Clare Boothe Luce spoke out to a group of journalists to make her statement on the press. The time Luce’s speech was presented, it was 1960; a much different time from how press runs today. Back in the sixties, press was presented in the form of newspapers or by word of mouth, whereas today press appears on a computer screen. In Luce’s speech she states, “It is- to use the big word- the pursuit of and the effort to state the truth.” (L.39). This statement concludes that the author views the whole point of the press to tell the truth. Whether the topic is on the food industry or on economics, press brings information to the people in an honest fashion. Back in this time Clare used many rhetorical
Although “Yellow Journalism was not totally responsible for the Spanish American War, by knowing the definition of “Yellow Journalism”, one would conclude this was exactly the type of journalism that aided in the Spanish American War. The term, “The tongue is a powerful weapon” is true but, stories that were written by Journalist Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst spread like wildfire through word of mouth and greatly aided in America’s involvement in the Spanish American War.
While public tensions before August 1898 were surely high, nothing turned the public against Spain like the tragic blowing up of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. The lives of 260 American officers and men were lost. The yellow press and American investigators quickly blamed spanish officials in Cuba for the mysterious wreck. Although it is extremely unlikely that the spanish had anything to do with the Maine’s sinking, the War-Mad American public accepted this conclusion out of rage, overwhelmingly persuading President Mckinley to begin the war. McKinley personally did not want to fight a war against Spain, for he had seen enough bloodshed as a General in the Civil War. But the public, encouraged by the Cuban patriotic cause, yellow journalism, and the sinking of the Maine, clamored for a war. Finally, President McKinley yielded and gave the people what they wanted. He believed that the people should rule, even if they don’t know what’s best for themselves. Public pressure was the main reason we went to war with Spain, and the biggest cultivator of public unrest was the blowing up of “The Maine”.
Yellow Journalism follows this because that is what William Randolph Hurst and Pulitzer were using to persuade the audience, the idea of overdoing a story so it will make the public feel a certain way and in this case it made the public want to help Cuba.
The Spanish-American War in 1898 was a point where American’s demonstrated their power and true colors. America wanted to free the Cubans from Spain, but it was not purely out of the interest of the Cubans. America was in it for the Philippines. Spain had control of the Philippines, and the Philippines were located in close proximity to China. The issue here was that the Philippines was not interested in having the U.S. around and rebelled against the American forces (47) .The U.S. wanted to capitalize on the economic struggles in China and the Philippines was
Yellow Journalism was seen all over the newspapers in the late 19th century and was one of the causes of why McKinley chose to go to war. The San Francisco Call was one of those newspaper spreading rumors and false claims to the people. They mislead many people to support the cause in Cuba, adding to McKinley’s pressure of whether to get involved or not. They printed an article entitled “Proof of the treachery of Gen. Weyler” on April 12th, 1898. This newspaper article claimed that the sinking of the Maine, which caused great controversy over the situation in Cuba, was the work of none other than General Weyler, American’s biggest enemy at the moment. As it was clear, probably at that time and definitely now, the Maine wasn’t destroyed by the Spanish. Like this example and many others, tension rose both in the White House and with the American people because they were fed lies that people wanted to believe. Kagan believes that this “yellow journalism” didn’t really affect McKinley’s decision to intervene in Cuba as he states, “The pressure on the McKinley administration to take some action in Cuba was not manufactured by publishers looking for a war to sell newspapers. It was the product of Cuban reality and American outrage over actual human suffering.” Although he is right
There were a plethora of important events that took place that prompted the beginning of The Spanish American war. The war was officially started in 1898, bringing joy to the citizens of America and dismay to then president William Mckinley. Before the war, Cuba had been fighting for independence from Spain. The Cuban’s had already lost in the ten year war earlier, which had been fought to gain their independence from Spain. In the state's, newspapers and other media sources were greatly exaggerating the horrors and atrocities being
The politically corrupt use fake media to deceive the general population and alter their opinions and views to match what fits their agenda. Another term for this obliteration is “yellow journalism,” and it has been the culprit of many ruined careers and relationships. Yellow journalism is journalism that is based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. Yellow journalism was a very hot topic back in the 1920’s and 1930’s and it has since then died out, until recently when the current President of the United States, Donald Trump ran for office.
While eventually it was seen as a crude technique to sell more newspapers and push for the outcome that the publishers were in favor of, the term was birthed through the constant competition between newspaper publishers. In 1896, Joseph Pulitzer (Pulitzer Prize) and William Randolph Hearst were publishers of two leading New York newspapers and both were engaged in a bidding war over a cartoonist who drew a strip known as the Yellow Kid. The cartoon strip was a satirical representation of life in the slums of New York, and it originally acquired profit for Pulitzer’s paper, New York World. Hearst, in an effort to raise the earnings of his paper, bought the cartoonist. The fighting between Hearst and Pulitzer, over the cartoon and the market, lead to the transformation of the Yellow Kid. The Yellow Kid is arguably the first negative news source desired and was only the prelude to its successor, known as Yellow
Assess the importance of TWO of the following in the US decision to declare war against Spain in 1898: yellow journalism, sinking of the Maine, US business interests, Cuban revolution
Around the late 1800s, Spain was having a hard time with preventing Cuban’s from fighting for their independence. The revolts led Spain to send over General Valeriano Weyler, to put a stop to the protests. Consequently, he had anyone suspected of supporting independence, removed from the general population, and sent to concentration camps. Newspaper publishers, William R. Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, gave the word out to the American people, with the use of a little Yellow journalism--journalism based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration, in an attempt to create disgust towards the Spanish government's actions. The American people, with their moral beliefs, and pride in their military might, decided to put into action the long-dormant