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→19th century: add yellow Journalism
====Chicago====
====Chicago====
Late-19th-century big city newspapers such as the ''Chicago Daily News'' - founded in 1875 by Melville E. Stone - ushered in an era of news reporting that was, unlike earlier periods, in tune with the particulars of community life in specific cities. Vigorous competition between older and newer-style city papers soon broke out, centered on civic activism and sensationalist reporting of urban political issues and the numerous problems associated with rapid urban growth. In Chicago competition was especially fierce between the ''Chicago Times'' (Democratic), the ''Chicago Tribune,'' (Republican) and the ''Daily News'' (independent), with the latter becoming the city's most popular paper by the 1880s.<ref>David Paul Nord, "Read All about It"" ''Chicago History'' 2002 31(1): 26-57. Issn: 0272-8540 </ref>
Late-19th-century big city newspapers such as the ''Chicago Daily News'' - founded in 1875 by Melville E. Stone - ushered in an era of news reporting that was, unlike earlier periods, in tune with the particulars of community life in specific cities. Vigorous competition between older and newer-style city papers soon broke out, centered on civic activism and sensationalist reporting of urban political issues and the numerous problems associated with rapid urban growth. In Chicago competition was especially fierce between the ''Chicago Times'' (Democratic), the ''Chicago Tribune,'' (Republican) and the ''Daily News'' (independent), with the latter becoming the city's most popular paper by the 1880s.<ref>David Paul Nord, "Read All about It"" ''Chicago History'' 2002 31(1): 26-57. Issn: 0272-8540 </ref>
===20th century===
====Yellow Journalism====
[[Yellow Journalism]] is an unflattering term used to describe media coverage that is sensationalized in order to bring about a desired result. While not necessarily outright lies, it plays rather loosely with the truth or presents information in a way where conclusions are reached that might not be drawn if all information was presented.
[[File:Puck11-21-1888.jpg|thumb|420px|Nasty little printer's devils spew forth from the [[Hoe press]] in this Griffith cartoon in ''Puck'' magazine Nov. 21, 1888--about a decade before the term "Yellow Journalism" was coined about these evils]]
It downplays legitimate news in favor of eye-catching headlines that sell more newspapers. It may feature exaggerations of news events, scandals, sex, weird events or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists. Campbell (2001) defines Yellow Press newspapers as having daily multi-column front-page headlines covering a variety of topics, such as sports and scandal, using bold layouts (with large illustrations and perhaps color), heavy reliance on unnamed sources, and unabashed self-promotion.
Mott defines Yellow Journalism in terms of five characteristics:<ref> Frank Luther Mott, ''American Journalism'' (1941) p. 539 [http://books.google.com/books?id=3lTybuXbGVsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mott+%22american+journalism%22&hl=en#PPA539,M1 online]</ref>
# scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
# lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings
# use of faked interviews, misleading headlines, pseudo-science, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts
# emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips (which is now normal in the U.S.)
# dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.
The term was extensively used to describe certain major New York City newspapers about 1900 as they battled for circulation. By extension the term is used today as a [[pejorative]] to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion, such as systematic political bias.
Both [[Joseph Pulitzer]] and [[William Randolph Hearst]] are associated with bringing yellow journalism into American society through their newspapers in the later half of the nineteenth century. The prominence of yellow journalism was especially notable in coverage of the Spanish occupation of [[Cuba]] and Pulitzer and Hearst took credit for the [[Spanish American War]] that followed, but historians dispute the claim. Their papers reached only New York City readers, and it was the rest of the country that demanded war in 1898.
==Bibliography==
==Bibliography==