Rumor Has It: Yellow Journalism

Emotions. Sensationalism. Rumors.  

All of these aspects should never be found in journalism however they are the baseline and core aspects to a particular type of journalism. 

Yellow journalism. 

Yellow journalism is a style of reporting where the news values sensationalism and provoking emotions rather than reporting real news. News articles with misleading, false, or overly emotional headlines and articles are participants in yellow journalism and lead division. 

Yellow journalism started, as a coined term, in the late 1800s, when news companies wanted to sell as many papers to as many people as possible. Due to the invention of the printing press, a contraption that allowed for fast and cheap production of news papers, papers were being sold for only a penny which opened up the demographic from only the wealthy to anyone, regardless of economic class. 

The ability for anyone to be able to obtain news should have been a period of growth and connecting Americans, however, the large news monopolies saw it as a means of economic gain. Since their audience grew, the companies wanted everyone to buy as many newspapers as possible. To do this, headlines were printed that twisted the accurate events to create chaos and make Americans buy the "entertaining" news, rather than the news that printed factual information. 

During this time period, yellow journalism most prominently affected the Spanish-American war. During the last decade of the 19th century, Cuba was a Spanish colony but started to fight for independence. Americans supported their independence but it was the use of yellow journalism that got Americans directly involved. 

News companies published articles stating that Spain directly and purposefully attacked an American ship that was stationed in Havana, Cuba. This was just speculation and rumors, with not much truth attached to the claim, however, newspapers, like the New York Journal, published headlines that were anti-Spain and created an even bigger divide between America and Spain. 

In truth, the USS Maine exploded due to a freak accident and there was not evidence to blame Spain, especially at the time of the event. However, this article, which was published in February 1898, lit a fire in Americans to promote anti-Spain theology and pushed the government to declare war against Spain in May of 1898. 

History repeats itself. Most things America deals with, politically, socially, and economically, are versions of historical events America has already overcome. 

Yellow journalism is no exception. 

With the popularity of online news and the 24-hour news cycle, it has never been easier to publish and

promote false information. It is not just social media's fault, although that also promotes false information, we see bias in major news organizations as well. Many large organizations have to edit, deleted, or publicly apologize for reporting false information which leads to the lack of credibility and trust between the people and journalists. 

Our democracy is built on that trust. 

Once again, America has placed great importance on quantity instead of quality in our reporting. Misleading headlines, or just plain lies, are promoted and published more, since those articles will get more views.  We have traveled back in time, to when we cared about emotions and rumors in our news for entertainment purposes and then suffered real consequences. 

What will the consequences be this time?