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The Great American Newspaper War, Part 2 Yellow Journalism
By Toni Lee Robinson
Like Pulitzer, W.R. Hearst thrived on
investigative reporting. His Examiner
regularly blew the whistle on graft. In one
instance, Hearst sent a reporter undercover
to a local hospital. She witnessed firsthand
the facility's treatment of poor women. Her
report on the hospital's cruelty toward the
poor shocked the city. The next day, every
member of the hospital staff was fired. The
whole process, of course, kept readers
riveted to the pages of the Examiner.
Circulation shot up.
Hearst made up his mind to be the king of newspaper publishing. He
planned to overthrow the reigning king, the same man whose ideas
he had copied. Having made his mark in San Francisco, he moved on
to New York. Now, on Pulitzer's turf, Hearst plotted to outdo him.
Backed by his family's wealth, Hearst bought a cheap newspaper, the
New York Journal. He began to mold the paper, honing it to a
cutthroat edge.
He used the same tactics as he had in San Francisco. Journal
readers got their news mixed with a heaping helping of
entertainment. To Hearst, winning was everything. The Journal had
sold for a penny a copy when Hearst bought it. He kept the penny
price and added pages. That cinched the deal for working class
patrons. The Journal's circulation soared. Hearst was beating
Pulitzer at his own game.
The battle was on. Pulitzer chopped the price of his paper to a
penny. After all, he'd made money in the newspaper game. He could
weather a cut in profits. But could his wealth outlast the Hearst
family fortune? Then Hearst attacked from a different angle.
Offering generous salaries, he began luring World staff to the
Journal. Pulitzer, plagued by stress and health problems, wasn't the
most easy-going employer in town. Many World employees went
over to Hearst's paper.
Among the deserters was a cartoonist who authored a comic strip
called The Yellow Kid. It starred a cheery, likeable, bald baby in a
yellow nightshirt. The Kid's thoughts appeared in print on his
colorful shirtfront. At the time, color was a new thing for mass
produced papers. The Yellow Kid was wildly popular. People loved
the breezy toddler and his bright yellow shirt. When the strip's author
jumped ship, The Yellow Kid began appearing in Hearst's Journal.
Pulitzer promptly hired another cartoonist for the World and
continued the strip. Now both papers had Yellow Kid comics running
at the same time!
The two publishing giants battled viciously for dominance. In
spite of their fierce rivalry, however, the two papers were much alike.
With a curious zeal, both were involved in events in a tiny country
far away from the streets of New York. Sensational headlines from
Cuba thundered from the front pages of both papers each morning.
It is unlikely that the smallest detail of the struggles of Cuban
rebels escaped any faithful World or Journal reader. Pulitzer and
Hearst saw to it that their papers told the story from every angle. At
least, they told the story from every angle that supported their views.
They romanticized the rebels and always showed Spain in a bad light.
When the truth seemed to be lacking in drama, the editors spiced it
up with made-up details.
Other editors condemned the sensationalist approach of the two
media giants. The World and the Journal, known for the colorful
Yellow Kid strips they both ran, were soon labeled the "yellow
papers." The melodramatic brand of reporting that screamed from
the pages of both papers became known as yellow journalism. The
term came to be used for sensationalized reporting used to
manipulate people's feelings toward a certain end.
The goal both Hearst and Pulitzer seemed passionate to achieve
was war. They wanted the U.S. to muscle Spain out of the way and
rush to the rescue of Cubans. Many in the U.S. agreed with them.
Americans had long been hot under the collar about Spanish bullies
in Cuba. That smoldering anger was fanned into a roaring inferno by
newspaper stories of events in Cuba. Public opinion favored U.S.
military intervention.
Critics pointed out that the deepest motives of the two news
giants probably didn't have much to do with the plight of Cubans.
The Great American Newspaper War, Part 2 - Yellow Journalism
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What mattered most to Hearst and Pulitzer, skeptics said, was
bragging rights. Each was striving to make his paper the biggest.
What better way to boost circulation than riveting stories of danger,
bravery, guts, and glory? And what better source of those ingredients
than a good, lively war? The rival newspaper giants were determined
to bring it about.
Illustrator Fredric Remington went to Cuba to sketch pictures for
Hearst's Journal. The young artist arrived during a lull in the
ongoing battle between Spain and the rebels. In the calm, Remington
saw nothing to inspire him. There was no blood, no glory. Spain
seemed to have its affairs under control. Remington telegraphed
Hearst for a new assignment. There would be no war, he assured his
boss. According to some sources, Hearst wired back: "You furnish
the pictures, I'll furnish the war."
Some experts doubt that Hearst really said those words. Hearst
and Pulitzer didn't really start the war between Spain and America,
they point out. The two papers sold only in the New York City area.
The majority of Americans never saw them. Officials who made
high level decisions were hardly likely to rely on the newspapers for
information. One thing is certain, however. The "yellow paper"
tycoons did their best achieve their goal: to catapult the U.S. into war
with Spain through the power of the printed word.
Questions
1. Explain the meaning of the term "investigative reporting."
Give an example of this type of journalism.
2. What was Hearst's ambition as he took his newspaper career
from San Francisco to New York?
3. List the methods Hearst used to climb to the top in the New
York publishing world.
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4. What was The Yellow Kid?
A. A term for reporters who wrote embellished,
sensationalized stories of the war in Cuba
B. A comic strip that ran in two New York papers featuring
a breezy tot in a yellow shirt
C. A cartoon that used racial slurs in an attempt to bring
about immigration quotas for Asian people coming to the
U.S.
D. A serialized melodrama that ran in two New York papers,
telling the story of a child dying of yellow fever
5. True or false. The Journal and the World were called the
"yellow papers" because both bowed to government
intimidation in reporting on American involvement in Cuba.
A. False
B. True
6. Each of the following is an actual headline. Which is most
likely to belong to an article that is an example of yellow
journalism?
A. Hungry, Frantic Flames Leap Madly Upon Splendid
Pleasure Palace...Running Madly Riotous Through
Cornice, Archway, Façade-Rushing in Upon Trembling
Guests with Savage Fury-Appalled and Panic-Stricken,
Breathless Fugitives Gaze Upon Scene of Terror
B. House OKs Minimum Wage Increase
C. Woman Torches House Trying to Kill Spiders
D. Surgery Removes Electric Blanket from Python
7. Describe the feelings of the American public toward the
conflict in Cuba. How were they affected by the sensational
stories in the newspapers?
8. Fredrick Remington was sent to Cuba by Hearst for the
purpose of ______.
A. Spying out Spanish troop strength and locations
B. Negotiating with the Spanish for better treatment of
Cubans
C. Gauging the likelihood of a U.S. war with Spain so
Hearst could be prepared to send reporters
D. Sketching illustrations for news stories of the conflict in
Cuba
It is now common to see news crews "embedded" with troops to
report on every aspect of a military action. Do you think this is a good
practice? What benefits result? What cost could there be to news
people? To soldiers?
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In your opinion, what role should news media play in determining
political direction in a nation? Explain your answer.