Kimi Farley
Submitted to Ken Hansen
Hist 1700-001
March 29, 2013
Term Paper:
How Has Yellow Journalism Affected the American Public
Since 1898?
The incidence and identification of yellow journalism came in the late 1890s as a
result of competition between rival newspapers in New York. Joseph Pulitzer’s New York
World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal began to use increasingly unethical
practices in journalism in order to sell more newspapers, leading the editor of the New York
Press, Erwin Wardman, to coin the term. Wardman first used the expressions “new
journalism” and “nude journalism,” and then “yellow kid journalism” to refer to the practice.
Eventually it became known simply as “yellow journalism.”
Initially, the term “yellow journalism” was
the result of an incident regarding a comic strip,
called “Hogan’s Alley,” which was first published in
Pulitzer’s World, and featured a character named
the Yellow Kid. In 1895, Hearst, determined to
compete with Pulitzer, hired the comic’s artist, R.F.
Outcault, away from New York World. Outcault
then illustrated comics for the Journal, often including the recurring character, the Yellow
Kid (Campbell 2001). Consequently, the term “yellow journalism” was used in reference
to the fierce competition that ensued between the two publications over the comic-strip
artist. The moniker evolved to include sensationalism and unsubstantiated claims as a ploy
to sell papers, and later came to encompass unethical journalism in general.
In 1941, Frank Luther Mott defined yellow journalism in terms of these five
characteristics: scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news; lavish use of pictures, or
imaginary drawings; use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudoscience, and a
parade of false learning from so-called experts; emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements,
usually with comic strips; dramatic sympathy with the “underdog” against the system.
Incidentally (and perhaps ironically), Mott was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book, A
History of American Magazines, in 1939 (American Literature 1975).
The Spanish-American War of 1898 is the first example in U.S. history of a
journalism-driven war. During this fiercely competitive period in publishing, Hearst took
note of the Spanish suppression of the Cuban rebellion and began publishing sensational
descriptions of the situation in Cuba. These horrific descriptions of starving women and
children, valiant fighting rebels, executions, and female prisoners whipped the reading
public into a pro-war frenzy. In one infamous instance, a correspondent in Cuba
telegrammed Hearst to report that nothing was happening in Cuba, that there would be no
war, and that he was ready to return home. Hearst reportedly responded: “Please remain.
You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.”
Over the years there has been debate regarding whether the preceding account is
true, and whether newspaper coverage actually caused the war. However, it can be said
that yellow journalism most definitely contributed to the public’s perception and fueled
public outrage toward Spain and the conditions in Cuba. The Spanish-American War lasted
about 4 months and resulted in the deaths of over 64,000 people.
If yellow journalism encompasses unethical journalism in all its varieties, then it
surely continues today. Currently, the term
“sensationalism” is interchangeable with “yellow
journalism” and carries the same implications.
There are many obvious examples of such
journalistic practices, such as The National
Enquirer (“Enquiring Minds Want to Know!”), The
Star, and The Globe. These periodicals purport fantastical claims. For example: a recent
Enquirer headline reads, “REVEALED! SECRET JFK DRUG OVERDOSE” with the subtitle,
“EXPOSED! JFK ran naked in posh hotel after a methamphetamine injection from notorious
Dr. Feelgood put the ‘entire civilized world at risk,’” (National Enquirer 2013). Publications
and headlines like these are widely understood to be of improbable validity; however, a
young, naïve, or uneducated person could certainly be susceptible to believing such stories.
Aside from the blatant examples above, there are many publications that present
themselves to be legitimate news sources, but are still of questionable ethics. Today, even
our most counted-upon news sources are often found to have employed questionable
ethics in their journalism. On May 11, 2012, Professor Darren Hutchinson of the
Washington College of Law called out The Washington Post for their “hit piece” on Mitt
Romney. At the time, Romney was running for president of the United States. The Post
article focused on an incident that had happened nearly half a century earlier in Romney’s
early prep school days, where Romney reportedly chased down and cut the hair of a fellow
student who was regularly teased for his hairstyle and suspected sexual orientation. On his
blog, Dissenting Justice, Hutchinson argued that of the many important issues regarding the
presidential nominees, this particular story was “useless and questionable” and certainly
meant to sway public opinion (Hutchinson 2012).
When discussing the ways yellow journalism has affected the American public since
1898, it may be relevant to cite my own, personal experience with yellow journalism that
took place on a national scale. On June 29, 2006 Davis Clipper sportswriter, Ben De Voe
published an article chronicling the astonishing story of a Little League championship game
played in Bountiful, Utah. The story painted the league of 9- and 10-year-olds as a
recreational league wherein “the kids are more concerned with the treats they’ll have after
the game” than the ending score. The Yankees were winning by one run in the bottom half
of an extra inning with the tying run on base, and the Red Sox’s (yes, really) best hitter at
bat, with a surviving cancer victim on deck. At the suggestion of assistant coach Shaun Farr,
head coach Bob Farley proceeded to “scream across the diamond to intentionally walk the
hitter because the cancer victim is too weak and frail to hit the ball.” Adding that, “that way
your team can get the easy win, and everyone will commend you for what a brilliant coach
you are,” (De Voe 2006). The article went on to sensationalize the “frailty” of Romney Oaks,
the boy who had survived cancer 6 years earlier, and to vilify the coaches and their decision
to walk the batter.
The facts may have painted a different picture. Ben De Voe was not only not present
at the game, but wrote and published the article based on a phone call from the disgruntled
Red Sox coach a week after the game was played. The game had come at the end of an
intense season. In fact, the boys had gotten so involved in the season that they were
attending the games of other teams and keeping statistics and building a strong, but
friendly rivalry, which culminated in the championship game between none other than the
nearly undefeated Red Sox and the undefeated Yankees. There were many spectators of all
ages at this very competitive and exciting game. The regular season rules concerning runs
per inning, intentional walks, etc. were suspended in acknowledgement of the competitive
nature of the end-of-season tournament. The game was tied and in an extra inning, and
Romney Oaks, who was cleared to play baseball in a regular rec league, had been playing
for multiple years, and was playing on a finalist team that had only lost one game, was
fourth in the lineup. Mere logic represents that the claims of his fragility were greatly
exaggerated.
Bob Farley actually happens to be, in my certainly biased, but also educated opinion,
one of the rare baseball coaches who does not measure his success by wins, but by the
accomplishments and improvement of his players. He has invested countless hours in
coaching not only his players, but anyone else who wants extra help. He has spent
countless dollars on coaching equipment; batting machines, pitchbacks, specialized bats,
you name it, in order to make learning the game more fun and effective for the kids he
coaches. He has received many notes of thanks from his players and their parents, and had
many parents request their children to be on his team year after year. I am personally
repulsed by maniacal coaches who scream at their players and by parents who get overly
involved and heated over games, and I have always been grateful for the polar opposite
methods employed by my husband. This may sound a bit defensive and overreactive based
on one little article in the local paper. However, soon after the De Voe article came out,
Rick Reilly featured the story in his column Life of Reilly on the back page of Sports
Illustrated (Reilly 2006). In his article, Reilly further exaggerated the already
sensationalized “facts” from the Clipper article. And then, literally overnight, the story
caught fire and spread from publications to radio to television to the Internet.
What should have been a non-story became fodder for just about every media outlet
most people have ever heard of. ESPN.com covered it the next day (Garber 2006), many
radio stations pursued interviews, it was featured on multiple blogs, and even Jim Rohm
ranted publicly about my husband for the entire second half of his two-hour radio show,
Rohm is Burning. One very vivid example of yellow journalism by a “legitimate,”
mainstream news outlet is a voice
message left on our home phone by a
reporter for the New York Times. In the
message, the reporter said that he was
interested in covering the baseball piece
and wanted to get Bob’s side of the story.
He asked Bob to call back, left his contact
information, and then said, “I hope you’re feeling real good about yourself right now,” just
before hanging up. Skeptical about the quality of unbiased and fair coverage we would
have gotten, we opted to not return the call.
Eventually the local media picked up the story, and for the first time the Yankees
coaches’ side was finally presented, giving the public the opportunity to make up their own
minds about whether or not walking a batter in a competitive championship game is ethical.
Once both sides came to light, the response from the public was overwhelming in support
of the Yankees coaches. There was lively debate in the Letters to the Editor sections of
both the Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune, but it focused on the issues that were real,
not whether two adult men had seized the opportunity to humiliate a frail and feeble
cancer victim.
The story finally died down a couple months after the original Clipper article was
published. That is, until three years later when GQ named Bob Farley and Shaun Farr as
numbers 19 and 18, respectively, in a piece entitled The 20 Most Despicable Coaches,
where Craig Marks and Jon Dolan counted down the “twenty most heinous tyrants in recent
sports history,” (Marks 2009).
Although Bob can’t complain that he has been featured in both Sports Illustrated and
GQ magazines, and in hindsight we have a very entertaining story to tell our grandchildren
someday, this experience was a lesson in yellow journalism at its most personal.
Newspaper publishers need to sell papers. Sensational articles help to sell papers.
As much as we would like to think otherwise, sometimes well-balanced, fairly presented
stories just don’t hold our attention like the exciting ones do; the ones that make our blood
boil, the ones that make us say, “Wow!” and, “Can you believe it?” and, “That jerk! They
ought to lock him up and throw away the key!” Yellow journalism, whether we want to
admit it or not, continues to influence our politics and our social system. Answers I do not
have. Solutions I do not have. Opinions I have aplenty. Perhaps the Times is looking for a
feature columnist?
Works Cited
American Literature. THE PULITZER PRIZES: a History of the Awards in Books, Drama, Music
and Journalism, Based on the Private Files over Six Decades. 1975.
Campbell, W. Joseph. Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies.
Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2001.
De Voe, Ben. "Ben Thinkin' - Take the Little League coaches' test." Davis Clipper, June 29,
2006: 1.
Garber, Greg. Youth team pays high price in win-at-all-costs game. ESPN Internet Ventures.
August 15, 2006. sports.espn.go.com (accessed April 3, 2013).
Hutchinson, Darren Lenard. Questionable Journalism: Washington Post Explores Romney's
Teen Years. May 11, 2012. dissentingjustice.blogspot.com (accessed April 3, 2013).
Marks, Craig and Dolan, Jon. "The 20 Most Despicable Coaches." Gentlemen's Quarterly,
October 2009.
National Enquirer. "REVEALED! SECRET JFK DRUG OVERDOSE." National Enquirer, April 3,
2013.
Reilly, Rick. "You Make The Call." Sports Illustrated, August 14, 2006: 1.