What was the main purpose of yellow journalism?

There are many notable examples of yellow journalism in recent years, as well as throughout history. These stories were sensationalized in broadcast and print media alike, and now in digital form as well.

• Spanish American War - Yellow journalism helped to push Spain and the United States into war in 1898. The Maine, a U.S. battleship, sank from an explosion. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst published false articles about a plot to sink the ship, thereby increasing tensions.

• Samsung and Apple court case - A story claimed that Samsung paid a $1.2 billion settlement to Apple in nickels. The story originated as comedy, but it was published as true.

• Ebola is Coming - During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, Bloomberg Businessweek's cover graphic featured "Ebola is Coming" written across the full cover such that it appeared to have been drawn in blood. This terrifying image greatly exaggerated what was a very real threat without having to be sensationalized.

• Prince Harry and Megan Markle - When Prince Harry and Megan Markle announced in 2019 that they were giving up their titles to live a more ordinary lifestyle out of the public eye, the media went into overdrive. Their every move was covered, ironically focusing on the couple's desire to be out of the spotlight.

• Covfefe - When Donald Trump tweeted out Covfefe, the excessive media scrutiny that ensued can be described as an example of yellow journalism.

• Baby snatched by eagle - This shocking headline grabbed attention, but the accompanying video was shown to be fake.

• World War I photo - The photo shows a man in front of a firing squad and the caption said the man was an enemy spy. In reality, the photo was a fake and the photographer was actually posing as a spy. It has since been used as a photo from WWII.

• Prime Minister called a traitor - ABC News reported that Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu called Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin a traitor, but the report mischaracterized his words.

• O.J. Simpson - Live reporting of the chase and capture of Simpson sensationalized this tragic case after Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife.

• Tiger Woods - The news media had a heyday with the story of his affairs, including interviewing sex addicts.

• Botox mom - This story of a mom giving her daughter Botox and waxings to keep her looking young was a hoax. The Sun, a British tabloid, paid her $200 to say she did it.

• Octomom - A young woman gave birth to octuplets and became a media sensation.

• Crazed woman chases Brad Pitt - The headline is an eye-catcher, but she was really just running after him to take a picture.

What is Yellow Journalism and What Are The Effects of Yellow Journalism

 

Yellow Journalism is a way of publishing news in such a format that attracts a good number of readers with an aim to increase the circulation of the newspaper. This is a kind of journalism wherein the news is published without any proof. The main aim of Yellow Journalism is to gather the attention of people in society.

Origin of the word/ History behind the origin:

It is said that the term Yellow Journalism was first used by Erwin Wardman. He used this term to refer to the war that took place between the New York World and New York Journal. Some also argue that the term was originated from a comic strip that is believed to be published in the New York World. According to them, the main character of the comic strip used to wear a yellow-coloured shirt, hence the name Yellow Journalism.

In today’s world, there is so much competition among the publications, there are times when the news has to be altered in such a way that it fits the needs and demands of the current situation. In the past also, the editors used to feel that by changing the story idea in a certain manner, it will gain some traction in the society and catch the attention of the readers, as a result of which more and more newspapers could be sold by the publication.

Characteristics of Yellow Journalism:

1. This kind of journalism has seen the use of more than one column headlines, there was also the use of one-page banners.

2. There was a certain set of topics that were given preference always, topics like politics, war, international diplomacy, and sports were at times given front-page treatment to make it more attractive.

3. There used to be a lot of usage of illustrations, and maps in the news.

4. The journalists and publishers were always ready to experiment with the layout. It also used to happen that page number one had only one article so that it could garner more and more attention from the reader. Along with one article, the journalists and publishers also used to experiment with the illustration.

5. As it has already been mentioned that there was no proof or source to validate the news, making it a very important characteristic of the news.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Yellow Journalism

One of the most important disadvantages of Yellow Journalism was that no one took the onus of the lapses that used to happen while reporting the news. Also, the title of the article also had different interpretations, making it difficult for the reader to grasp the same.

Talking about the advantage of Yellow Journalism, the most important newspapers in New York City, The world and The Journal saw the increase in daily sales up to 6 figures.

Impact of Yellow Journalism

Yellow Journalism is seen to come into the picture whenever the competition arises. In today’s world, as we have advanced towards a new era and have been using technology. Even technology has not been able to change the principles of Yellow Journalism. A very common example of this is the kind of promotions that are done on television that promise the audience with a particular update on a story, which may not be the case in the actual sense.

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05 Jun 2020

Post by : NIMCJ

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Publisher William Randolph Hearst, right, is interviewed by reporters, Nov. 7, 1935, on his return to "my home state of New York" due to Californian income taxes.  Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal, and rival Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, are credited with the creation of yellow journalism in the late 1800s. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Yellow journalism usually refers to sensationalistic or biased stories that newspapers present as objective truth.

Established late 19th-century journalists coined the term to belittle the unconventional techniques of their rivals. Although Eric Burns (2006) demonstrated that the press in early America could be quite raucous, yellow journalism is generally perceived to be a late 1800s phenomenon full of lore and spin, fact and fiction, tall tales, and large personalities.

Yellow journalism marked by sensationalist stories, self-promotion

William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal, and his arch-rival, Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, are credited with the creation of yellow journalism.

Such journalism had the following characteristics:

• the use of multicolumn headlines, oversized pictures, and dominant graphics;
• front-page stories that varied from sensationalist to salacious in the same issue;
• one-upmanship, or the scooping of stories, only later to be embarrassed into retractions (usually by a competing publication);
• jingoism, or the inflaming of national sentiments through slanted news stories, often related to Civil War;
• extensive use of anonymous sources by overzealous reporters especially in investigative stories on “big-business,” famous people, or political figures;
• self-promotion within the news medium; and
• pandering to the so-called hoi polloi, especially by using the newspaper layout to cater to immigrants for whom English was not their first language.

Oversized pictures, like this one in Joseph Pulitzer'sWorld, are characteristic of yellow journalism. (Feb. 17, 1898, public domain)

Conservative press organized boycott against Hearst and Pulitzer newspapers

The conservative press thought these characteristics amounted to misconduct in the gathering of news and launched a boycott of both newspapers.

The boycott was successful in excluding the two newspapers from the stands in the New York Public Library, social clubs, and reading rooms, but it only served to increase readership among average citizens who rarely frequented such establishments.

Overall, the boycott backfired. Circulation for both newspapers increased, and Hearst purchased other newspapers and insisted on the use of the same techniques in other cities.

The conservative press was itself not above printing the occasional fantastical story. Moreover, within ten years, almost every newspaper in the country began using large headlines for election day editions or illustrations and pictures to contextualize a crisis or celebration.

Hearst’s and Pulitzer’s newspapers eventually declined in circulation, but not before others had copied their methods.

Illustration published in the New York Evening Post shows William Randolph Hearst as a jester tossing newspapers to a crowd of eager readers. It includes a note in the bottom left from the New York mayor which says, " "The time is at hand when these journalistic scoundrels have got to stop or get out, and I am ready now to do my share to that end. They are absolutely without souls. If decent people would refuse to look at such newspapers the whole thing would right itself at once. The journalism of New York City has been dragged to the lowest depths of degradation. The grossest railleries and libels, instead of honest statements and fair discussion, have gone unchecked." (Image via Library of Congress, public domain)

The term 'yellow journalism' sourced to comic strip and editorials

Lore has suggested that the use of a comic strip illustrated by the World’s Richard Felton Outcault entitled “The Yellow Kid” (later poached by the Journal) and used to poke fun at industry, political, and society figures, was the source of the phrase “yellow journalism.”

Other sources point to a series of critical editorials by Ervin Wardman of the New York Press as coining the phrase after first attempting to stigmatize the practices as “new” and then “nude” journalism — “yellow” had the more sinister, negative connotation Wardman sought. Other editors began to use the term in their newspapers in New York, and it eventually spread to Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities by early 1897.

The Yellow Kid comic strip is a possible source for the term "yellow journalism." (Image via Wikimedia Commons, public domain)

Supreme Court has set high bar for determining libel of public figures

Although modern journalistic standards are arguably as high as they have ever been, some Supreme Court decisions have allowed for criticism, especially of public figures.

In Near v. Minnesota (1931), the Supreme Court set a strong presumption against prior restraint of publication, and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) further set a high bar for public figures who thought that articles printed about them were libelous.

McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995) also ruled that individuals can publish anonymous criticisms of political issues, and newspapers’ use of anonymous sources is largely governed by a code of journalistic ethics.

This article is originally published in 2009. Cleveland Ferguson III, J.D., D.H.L. is Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for the Jacksonville Transportation Authority

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Sweezy v. New Hampshire (1957) stands as the first U.S. Supreme Court case to expound upon the concept of academic freedom though some earlier cases mention it.

Most constitutional academic freedom issues today revolve around professors’ speech, students’ speech, faculty’s relations to government speech, and using affirmative action in student admissions. 

Although academic freedom is regularly invoked as a constitutional right under the First Amendment, the Court has never specifically enumerated it as one, and judicial opinions have not developed a consistent interpretation of constitutional academic freedom or pronounced a consistent framework to analyze such claims.