ipl-logo

Yellow Journalism And The Spanish-American War

849 Words4 Pages

The True Impact of Yellow Journalism
There have been many misconceptions about the controversial topic of yellow journalism. Many questions have arisen seeking to find out if it was the cause of the Spanish-American War or not. It was founded in the 1890s by James Gordon Bennett when the term was applied to the new media coming out to introduce sensationalism into the news. Headlines featured stories of the Spanish and created chaos by making some of the headlines blown out of proportion. This new type of propaganda angered many Americans on their views and made it difficult for President McKinley to come up with a peaceful solution. Controversy has remained current to the topic of whether the strategy has pertained to starting a war. The headlines …show more content…

Yellow journalism did not start the Spanish-American War on its own, but did play a huge part in the fueling the propaganda towards angering citizens.
In order to boost sales, Pulitzer and Hearst competed against one another and exaggerated their headlines to appeal and gain interest from the public. “With so much competition between the newspapers, the news was over-dramatized and altered to fit story ideas that publishers and editors thought would sell the most papers and stir the most interest for the public so that news boys could sell more papers on street corners” (Vance “Yellow Journalism"). Society believed that because the newspapers were in the business of making profit, the truth had to be stretched in the community of journalism in order for it to continue with its market. Competition was mainly based on the profit intake of the newspapers. Starting out, William Hearst priced his newspapers cheaper than his rivals, only costing 1 cent, but still offered the same, if not more, information and content. This strategy worked and The Journal’s distribution went rapidly to 150,000 copies sold. After learning this, Pulitzer cut his company’s price, going from 2 cents to only 1 cent, hoping to

Show More
Related

  • Irony In The Mexican-American War

    92 Words  | 1 Pages

    The story takes place in a Mexican town that has been taken over by the United States during the Mexican-American war, and the military base that coincides with it. The use of irony throughout the story reveals the inward fight of the town to retain their culture while slowly sinking into the American way of life. Because of border troubles, soldiers had returned to Fort Jones, the fort next to town, and while the town has adjusted to their presence, certain ironies reveal their true feelings and changes they have gone

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Dbq Essay

    632 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1800’s, America was eager to expand their territory further west. An example of this in history is the Mexican-American war of 1846. In hopes to prevent the United States expansion into Mexican territory, Mexico allowed Americans to settle in the Tejas region. The Americans abused this privilege so they fought for independence. The Americans won and Texas remained its own country for nine years before the United States wanted to annex Texas.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Dbq Essay

    492 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Mexican-American war happened at the Rio Grande river over the claim of the border in 1846 between the United States and Mexico. The United States was not justified in going to war with Mexico because America sent troops into disputed territory to intentionally start a war. The main goal of the United States invasion was to gain control of Texas and expand on slavery. The United States took a position between the Nueces and Del Norte rivers because of the threatened invasion of Texas by Mexican forces.

    Read More

  • The Falsification Of The Mexican-American War

    280 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1846 The Mexican-American War began lasting till 1848. The United States acquisitive need for more land was their only motive for starting a war with Mexico. The United States started an unjustified war with the newly independent country just more territory. Polk stated that “The Mexican Government not only refused to receive him [the U.S. envoy] or listen to his propositions, but after a long-continued series of menaces have at last invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Dbq Essay

    708 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the year 1846 America went to war with Mexico over a simple land dispute. Quite like children they fought over boundaries and borders. The land in dispute in the beginning was Texas, but then it grew to include much much more land, enough to double the size of America and basically half Mexico. America made claims, Mexico refuted them and the United States took charge anyway, attempting underhandedly to get Mexico to act against the political bullying, making war justifiable. All in all a rather undignified encounter.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Research Paper

    456 Words  | 2 Pages

    The current war being held between the United States and Mexico is not only unjust, but it is also another example of the Anglo Saxon need for possessions, and love of sovereignty. I as a former slave know all too well of this American love of supremacy, I was once shackled myself by the tyranny of slavery. I believe now Mexico may be America’s next victim of oppression, I fear that they may suffer the same fate as the slaves in America, when Mexico indisputably loses this war against America’s insatiable ambition for land. It can not be denied that President Polk has enticed Mexico into this War, with his unnecessary acts of aggression, such as his release of troops to the Mexican Border. It can be concluded that President Polk's and the

    Read More

  • William Hearst Research Paper

    500 Words  | 2 Pages

    Hearst continued to drop the prices of his papers making him the cheapest paper. Hearst offered higher pay to his workers and gave them better job positions, he made sure he was the best newspaper and that no one would be able to match him, especially his huge rival Pulitzer. When Pulitzer fought back at Hearst, Hearst hit him hard with stealing Pulitzers World workers and hiring them for his own paper. Hearst started to become more of a political newspaper, where he took the side of republican, but his paper was democrat. Hearst and his yellow journalistic writing style was

    Read More

  • Why Was The Mexican War Unjustified

    526 Words  | 3 Pages

    Newspapers excited the public eye of the lust of territorial robbery. Meaning the US were like running out the Mexicans from their own land and completely disobeying their rules. Mexico might just have to act and charge US citizens with disgraceful robbery while in seeking extension of slavery but the US citizens denied because that was part of the American freedom. The US had no right to disrespect Mexico's rules like that even after they invited them kindly to Texas to increase the population but instead The US completely took

    Read More

  • The Vietnam War: The First Mexican American War

    262 Words  | 2 Pages

    The fight between Mexican and American troops officially opened fire on April 25, 1846. It was a war that was fought for land where Mexico battled to keep what they thought was their property. The war consisted of eight major battles that were fought in different locations and with different Mexican and American officers. The first battle fought was the battle of Palo Alto on May 8, 1846. The war took place between Fort Texas and resulted in the American troops winning and Zachary Taylor protecting the Rio Grande.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Essay Thesis

    1171 Words  | 5 Pages

    INTRODUCTION Throughout the 1840s and 1850s a major war happened called the Mexican American War which drastically changed the U.S. and Mexico and lead to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to be signed and which established the Rio Grande and not the Nueces River as the U.S Border. This also lead to the U.S. annexation of Texas and lead to the Mexico agreeing to sell California and the rest of the territory for 15 million. So you 're probably wondering why the war was fought but you 'll find that out later.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Essay On American Imperialism

    392 Words  | 2 Pages

    the United States used propaganda targeting humanitarian concerns to incite the public to declare war. As Americans were interested in the Cuban Revolution, sensational journalism only raised tensions between the United States and the Spanish monarchy, which would help cause the war. While General Weyler

    Read More

  • The Movie Newsies Movie Analysis

    1298 Words  | 6 Pages

    To start off, publishers did not tell the public what they did not want them to know, and they also persuaded opinions. From an article titled, “Joseph Pulitzer,” it reads, “Yellow journalism on the part of both papers helped inflame public opinion in favor of war against Spain in 1898” (McGuire and Leslie). This is a demonstration of how yellow journalism persuaded the public to all think the same way. By doing this, the publishers hoped they could lead everyone to think the way powerful people thought.

    Read More

  • Mexican American War Research Paper

    889 Words  | 4 Pages

    This war created a bad relationship between the U.S.A and Mexico. During the war, the daily paper, "El Republicano"

    Read More

  • Essay On The Mexican American War

    1083 Words  | 5 Pages

    The United States war with Mexico continues to be a divisive topic among many people because of its background. The Mexican-American war was a fight between Mexico and America for land. America’s belief at the time was Manifest Destiny, which meant that they believed that America should extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific ocean. In the end, America benefited from the war and got the land. The United States expanded its size, achieving their dream of Manifest Destiny.

    Read More

  • William Dean Howells Editha Character Analysis

    1381 Words  | 6 Pages

    “The air was thick with war feeling, like the electricity of a storm which has not yet burst” (Howells 1491). This quote from William Dean Howells’ Editha represents the atmosphere of America leading up to and during the Spanish-American War. America was split by differing views of imperialism, and ultimately ended up fighting a war for the wrong reasons. An atmosphere of blind patriotism, corrupted by yellow journalism and jingoism, consumed America during the years of the Spanish American War, which can be seen in the characters of William Dean Howells’ Editha. America entered into the Spanish-American War due to the yellow journalism that filled American citizen’s heads with sensational journalism, a prime example of this being Editha

    Read More

More about Yellow Journalism And The Spanish-American War

Open Document