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Yellow Journalism
How it all began
V.
William
Randolph
Hearst
Joseph
Pulitzer
What is yellow journalism?
Using melodrama,
romance, and hyberpole
to sell newspapers
Led by Hearst and
Pulitzer
1890’s
Hearst copied Pulitzer’s
sensationalist style and
hired the cartoonist to
work for his own paper.
Pulitzer hired another
cartoonist to create a
second yellow kid.
“Hogan’s Alley”
The yellow kid
The journalistic style
was soon coined “yellow
journalism.”
Newspapers relied
on sensationalist
headlines to sell
newspapers.
Hearst knew that
a war with Cuba
would sell his
papers.
Hearst: “You furnish the
pictures, I’ll furnish the
war!”
• Hearst instructed his reporters to travel to
Cuba and write stories designed to tug at
the heartstrings of Americans.
• Stories talked about female prisoners,
executions, rebels fighting, and starving
women and children.
• These filled the pages of American
newspapers.
The Sinking of the Maine
After the sinking and
Hearst’s paper began
blaming the Spanish,
U.S. public opinion
intervened and soon
there was exactly what
Hearst wanted…
The battleship Maine
went down in Havana
and the Hearst
newspapers blamed the
Spanish.
WAR
Spanish-American War
Often referred
to as the first
“media war”
Hearst’s sensationalism
and yellow journalism
was a driving factor in
propelling the U.S. into
war with Spain.