Yellow Journalism … Sensationalism in Print
If you’ve never heard of Yellow Journalism or “Yellow Press,” it may be that you’re too young, the term doesn’t get used too much these days. But, that was not always true. Beginning in the late 19th Century and for much of the 20th Century, Yellow Journalism was a “headline issue,” something that people frequently talked about.
The term itself, Yellow Journalism, refers to news and information that has “little or no legitimacy, that has not been properly researched and that may not even be true.” That’s a rough definition, but the point should not be lost. Yellow Journalism directly involves the use of sensationalism, gross exaggeration and scandal-mongering as a way to draw attention to the front page of a newspaper for the express purpose of selling as many copies of that newspaper as possible.
The term was coined and the business of Yellow Journalism actually took root in the 1890s in New York City. It was at that time that two major publishers of the period (and towering figures in the history of newsprint), Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were competing against one another to sell the most newspapers and turn the largest profit.
Pulitzer published a newspaper called the New York World while Hearst was the power behind The New York Journal. Both men were avidly seeking to boost circulation … and to set themselves apart from the many other newspapers available to New Yorkers in those days.
They had to make their newspapers look different and read differently, too, in order to stand out and drive circulation. Pulitzer got the jump on his competitor by using full color on his front page … screaming, sensational headlines … rumors … innuendo … sympathy for the “underdog” in any given story – all used to get attention and sales. And, it worked.
Circulation for Pulitzer’s newspaper skyrocketed and it was not too long before Hearst began using the same tactics … Yellow Journalism had been born. The period after the birth of these two newspapers was one in which many other newspapers “followed the same formula.” By the 1950s, New Yorkers had their choice of several “tabloid” newspapers that they could purchase and read – The New York Post, The Daily News and the now-defunct Daily Mirror, among many others.
These newspapers differed in style and content from traditional newspapers like The New York Times. They used photography, spectacular front page headlines and sensational stories about murder, scandals and the like to create attention and to push up their circulation numbers. And it worked.
Today, newspapers like The Daily News and The New York Post are profitable and respected. And, while they cover important news stories like those found on the pages of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, they also continue to remain faithful to their roots and cover stories that reek of sensationalism.
It appears to be a winning formula which is why it’s fair to say that these two newspapers, among many other similar newspapers, will not be changing their operational procedures anytime soon.