Word Count: 569 It is the news that informs us of the events that change our lives andentertains us when we are seeking something to do. Journalism has been thestaple of American life for quite some time and will probably keep the sameeffect for years to come.
Journalism has also changed many lives in AmericanHistory. Furthermore, I leave you with my essay on the the hype of the earlyninteen hundreds; the infamous Yellow Press. Basically, Yellow Journalism was the given name to mass media in theearly eighteenth century. It consisted of cartoons, illustrations, catchy stories,and things that appealed to the readers interests and values(Mass Media 1).
Sometimes the contents were fraudulent and emphasized tragedies. These typesof contents sold papers in great volumes and created a large profit for suchpapers as the New York World and the Journal. (Century 168)The owner of the New York Journal and the overall founder of yellowjournalism itself was of the name Joseph Pulitzer. Pulitzer immigrated to theUnited States from Hungary(Pulitzer 1). Early on in his career he worked as areporter where he picked up most of his journalism skills. Later on, Pulitzerpurchased the New York World.
At the time the World was not very successful,but Pulitzer managed to turn it into one of the most successful papers in NewYork. He managed to make his paper successful by using the many yellowtechniques mentioned before. Some people thought these methods were immoraland scandalous(Century 166-172). Velez 2Pulitzers only real competiton was from a man by the name of WilliamHearst. Hearst owned the paper by the name The Journal. The Journal wasalso highly successful.
Harsh competition took place between the twopapers(Century 172). The major break or turning point in the sensationalism movement wasthe sinking of the battelship Maine. Soon after the tragedy, the yellow presshad a war scare on Spain . For example, the scare- head technique where theywould post something to catch the readers eye such a the word massacre orother graphic words that would ingnite the publics interest. As many as five orsix publications daily were out relating to the supposed war against Spain.
Vicious competition between Hearst and Pulitzer took place over stories. As aresult of the need for stories to keep the public interested fraudulent storiesdeveloped and outraged many people(Yellow Kid 2). As far as the the publics feeling towards the yellow press they did nottake kindly to it. Many people wrote letters to editors complaining on thefalsities and other problems. The newspapers and magazines were baned fromseveral respectable places. Among the places that the publications were bannedincluded; libraries, schools, reading rooms, and clubs.
The reason people soughtto rid of the publications were because of their trashy content and theirfalsities(Yellow Kid 5). Although the actual origin of the term Yellow Press is still unknown,whether it be the color of the paper or the many cartoons written about thepublications including the yellow character the press made a significantimpact on society(Yellow Kid 3). The press brought more jobs into the publishing Velez 3industry and brought a new style to the world of journalism. Although thepublications did not go over well with most of the public, they made millions of dollars in profit(Century 167). So may the legacy of the mass media and itsfounders live on through the journalism of today.
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