Period One: 1880s-1890s
1880s-1890s, known for newspaper circulation battles and "yellow journalism." Yellow journalism refers to sensationalized, exaggerated, and fabricated news stories.
Editorial cartoon by Leon Barritt, 1898. Newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, full-length, dressed as the Yellow Kid (a popular cartoon character of the day), each pushing against opposite sides of a pillar of wooden blocks that spells WAR. This is a satire of the Pulitzer and Hearst newspapers' role in drumming up USA public opinion to go to war with Spain.
 |
 |
| William Randolph Hearst, owner of the New York Morning Journal, was in com- petition with Joseph Pulitzer for newspaper subscriptions, resorted to sensational stories called "yellow journalism. |
Joseph Pulitzer, owner of the New York World , was in competition with William Randolph Hearst to get the most newspaper subscriptions, resorted to sensational stories called "yellow journalism." |