Yellow Journalism

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Yellow Journalism

• The role of U.S. newspapers in the
  Spanish-American War.

Power point created by Robert L. Martinez
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The Yellow Kid

• In the late 1800s, one of the best-known New
  Yorkers was not a person at all. He was the
  Yellow Kid, a character in a wildly popular
  newspaper comic strip.
• For a time, the Yellow Kid appeared in 2
  newspapers at once, the New York World and the
  New York Journal.

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Newspaper War

• The struggle over the Yellow Kid was part of a
  larger newspaper war in New York City during
  the 1890s.
• Joseph Pulitzer, the publisher of the World faced
  off against William Randolph Hearst.

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• The artist who created the Yellow Kid, R.F.
  Outcalt, first sold his comic in 1895 to
  Pulitzers World.

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• The comic was set in New Yorks poor,
  rough-and-tumble ethnic neighborhoods and
  featured a bald-headed street urchin dressed in a
  bright yellow nightshirt.
• The Yellow Kid was an instant success.

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mith/YellowKid/yellow10.jpg
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Comic Strips

• Newspaper comics were new at the time, and
  Pulitzers World enjoyed a huge jump in sales.

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• Not to be outdone, Hearst lured Outcalt to the
  Journal by promising him more money.
• In response, Pulitzer hired another cartoonist to
  draw his own version of the cartoon.

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Yellow Papers

• Before long, the two newspapers were flooded with
  images of the Yellow Kid and became known as the
  Yellow Kid Papers or Yellow Papers.

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Yellow Journalism

• The rivalry between the World and the Journal
  extended beyond the Yellow Kid cartoons.
• In their struggle to attract readers, the two
  Yellow Papers developed an exaggerated style of
  reporting.
• Their sensational news stories soon became known
  as yellow journalism.

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• Among these stories were news reports about other
  countries.
• One favorite subject was the brutal suppression
  of a rebellion in Cuba against Spanish rule.
• Yellow journalism helped inflame public support
  for going to war against Spain.

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• The island of Cuba lies just 90 miles off the
  coast of Florida, in the Caribbean Sea.
• It was founded as a Spanish colony by Christopher
  Columbus in 1492 and later became one of the
  worlds leading sugar producers.
• Hundreds of thousands of slaves worked on its
  plantations.

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ople/blockson.slave.trade.jpg
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• For over three centuries, Cuba was part of
  Spains vast empire.
• But by the late 1800s, there were just two
  Spanish colonies in the Americas the islands of
  Puerto Rico and Cuba.
• A growing independence movement was threatening
  Spanish rule in Cuba.

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• During the 1800s, many Cubans had voiced a desire
  for self-rule.
• In 1868, a revolutionary group made up of poor
  whites, free blacks, and slaves demanded
  independence from Spain, including the end of
  slavery.
• Spain rejected these demands, eventually crushing
  the revolt.

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aves1.jpg
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• Spain tried to ease tensions by agreeing to
  limited government reforms.
• It gave Cubans some representation in the
  government, and it abolished slavery in 1886.

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• Meanwhile, Cuba was coming under the economic
  influence of the United States.
• By the mid-1890s, American investment in Cubas
  sugar plantations had reached millions of
  dollars.
• American investors were therefore nervous about
  the islands political instability.

http//www.historyofcuba.com/images/race/Cane.jpg
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Cuba Libra

• In 1895, Cubans rebelled again.
• This 2nd struggle for independence was led by
  Jose Marti, a Cuban poet, journalist, and
  statesman.

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• Like bones to the human bodyso is liberty the
  essence of life. Whatever is done without it is
  imperfect.
• Jose Marti

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• Forced to leave Cuba because of his revolutionary
  activities.
• Marti lived in the U.S. from 1881 to 1895.
• Even while leaving in exile, Marti inspired his
  fellow Cubans with calls for liberty.
• In 1895, Marti sailed back to Cuba to lead the
  revolt but was soon killed in combat.

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• The Cuban rebels engaged in guerilla warfare,
  launching surprise attacks against Spanish forces
  and fading back into the countryside.

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• In 1896, Spain sent a new commander, General
  Weyler, to eliminate public support for the
  rebels, Weyler forced thousands of Cubans into
  concentration camps.
• These overcrowded, unsanitary prison camps
  provided little food or shelter, causing
  thousands of deaths from disease and starvation.

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• Many Americans sympathized with the rebellion,
  seeing it as a struggle for freedom, like the
  American Revolution.

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• Meanwhile, investors feared that the political
  unrest was putting their Cuban investments and
  property at risk.

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• Despite public calls for the U.S. to intervene in
  Cuba, President Cleveland followed a policy of
  strict neutrality.

President Cleveland
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• When William Mckinley was elected president in
  1896, he hoped to maintain neutrality.
• But that would be difficult as the public
  increasingly called for the U.S. to help the
  rebels.

President McKinley
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• Most Americans learned about the events in Cuba
  through newspapers and magazines.
• At the time, these were the only forms of mass
  media methods of communicating to a mass
  (large) audience.

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• Many newspapers were not as careful in their
  reporting as they are today.
• To sell newspapers, publishers like Joseph
  Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
  sensationalized the news.

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Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll
furnish the war.
Hearst

• - Replied William Randolph Hearst, when war
  correspondent and illustrator Frederic Remington
  telegraphed from Cuba reporting that no war was
  imminent.

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• Both the New York World and the New York Journal
  saw reporting on the Cuban rebellion as a good
  way to gain new readers.

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NewYorkJournal.jpg
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• Reporters and artists were encouraged to stretch
  the truth about the bravery of Cuban rebels and
  the horrors of Spanish rule, especially General
  the Butcher Wylers brutality.

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• Many readers were shocked by these reports.
• Some demanded that the U.S. help Cuba win
  independence.
• In this way, yellow journalism helped stir public
  support for U.S. intervention to aid the rebels.

newspaper.jpg
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De Lome Letter

• On February 9, 1898, Hearsts New York Journal
  published a stolen letter written by Spanish
  Ambassador de Lome, calling President McKinley
  weak and catering to the rabble and, besides, a
  low politician.

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• Americans were offended by this criticism of
  their president.
• The publishing of this letter intensified
  anti-Spanish feelings in the U.S. and underscored
  the power of the press to inflame public opinion.

http//www.humboldt.edu/jcb10/spanwar.shtml
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Remember the Maine

• Not long after the De Lome affair, a much more
  alarming incident occurred the sinking of the
  battleship USS Maine in Havana harbor.
• Newspapers around the country responded with
  calls of vengeance.

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USS Maine

• On February 15, a tremendous explosion rocked the
  battleship.
• More than 260 sailors died form the blast.

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• An official navy investigation began immediately,
  but the Journal and other newspapers immediately
  blamed Spain.
• Hearsts paper published articles under such
  headlines as The Maine Was Destroyed by
  Treachery and The Whole Country Thrills with
  War Fever.

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ine.gif
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• In March, the navy issued its report on the
  sinking of the Maine. Though the evidence was
  sketchy, navy investigators concluded that the
  explosion was caused by an underwater mine.
• The report did not suggest who was responsible.

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• In 1976, navy researchers who studied the
  incident concluded that heat from a fire in a
  coal bin exploded a nearby supply of ammunition.

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• Despite McKinleys attempt to avoid war by
  armistice (a cessation of hostilities), under
  great public pressure, he asks Congress to
  declare war.

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• Congress passed a resolution, a formal statement
  about a course of action, recognizing Cuban
  independence and authorizing military force, if
  necessary, to liberate Cuba.

http//www.humboldt.edu/jcb10/spanwar.shtml
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Declaration of War

• On April 25, 1898, Congress declares war on Spain.

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• American newspapers exaggerated stories about the
  Cuban revolt to play on public sympathies and
  sell newspapers.
• Yellow journalism helped push the country toward
  war.

Nasty little printer's devils spew forth from
the Hoe press in this Puck cartoon of Nov. 21,
1888.
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The short war begins
A Splendid Little War