What is Yellow Journalism?

Yellow Journalism is the immature posting of newspapers and overstating topics to get people's attention. Yellow Journalism also leans on "vulgar taste" to appeal to readers (class lecture).

History of Yellow Journalism

The first American Newspaper was published by Benjamin Harris. This newspaper was only published once on September 25, 1690. It was titled Publick Occurences Both Foreign and Domestick. The first continuously published American Newspaper was published in 1704 by John Campbell and was titled Boston News-Letter. It was a weekly paper that was only two pages. Many papers were published after the Boston News-Letter. By the 1800's there were almost 200 papers being published in the United States. Joseph Pulitzer began the New York World in 1883 and in 1895 the World was in rough competition with the New York Morning Journal purchased by William Hearst. The World and the Journal were competitors and this is how Yellow Journalism started (class lecture).

Example 1:


http://www.birtherreport.com/2010/07/magazine-60-of-americans-quite.html

This is the front page of Globe magazine. This page is yellow journalism because President Obama was not born in Africa. To run for the President of the United States, the person must be a United States citizen. While Obama was running for President a background check was probably done and it would have gotten out to the public while he was campaigning, not during his second term as President. Obama would have had to turn in his birth certificate before running for president so he has to have one which makes this front page paper not true. This is Yellow Journalism because it would make someone passing by in the grocery store interested in buying the paper. It catches a person's attention.

Example 2:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2057020/Justin-Bieber-baby-Mariah-Yeater-says-told-time.html

This article on Justin Bieber is Yellow Journalism because he is not the father of Mariah Yeater's baby boy. Mariah said she met Justin at one of his concerts on October 25, 2010. She also said she wanted Justin Bieber to take a paternity test to prove that he is her 3-month-old son's father. This article is not true because it was just to get readers' attention and it is proven that Justin Bieber is not the father.