Yellow Journalism Or, Where Was All the White Paper?

John Hartman, Amelia Gephart, Erika Ashe, and Sophia Ortiz (Group 2) What is ? It sure ain’t mellow journalism

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, yellow journalism is “the use of lurid features and sensationalized news in newspaper publishing to attract readers and increase circulation. The phrase was coined in the 1890s to describe the tactics employed in the furious competition between two City newspapers, the World and the Journal.” Yellow Journalism and the US involvement in Cuba

● The press got behind the war with yellow journalism. ● Hearst and Pulitzer competed with each other in increasingly blown-up headlines to profit from business ○ Also an issue of national popularity- both saw the chance to make money and names for themselves in the minor conflicts in Cuba around the mid-1890s U.S. Involvement in Cuba

● The Hearst newspapers unequivocally blamed the Spanish, and soon the U.S. public opinion demanded intervention. ● Without sensational headlines and stories about Cuban affairs, the mood for Cuban intervention may have been very different.

ECONOMIC CONCERNS: $50 million invested in Cuban economy $100 million+ in business yearly with Cuba Sugar plantation and mining investments were in danger PRINCIPLES: Democracy and Liberty Both principles, Americans had fought for. Reconcentration Camps in Cuba

● Spanish General Weyler instituted a “Reconcentration Policy” similar to that of the Nazi’s in World War II in 1896 ● Relocated to towns with unbearable living conditions ○ Starvation & disease rampant ● 1898- one-third of Cuba’s population sent into concentration camps ○ 400,000+ Cubans died ○ Further used by big publishers, like Hearst and Pulitzer, to incite American involvement in a largely blown-up conflict Exaggeration of Spanish Atrocities

The atrocities in Cuba were exaggerated to create a sensational impact to sell more papers..

● Hearst sent artists to Cuba to depict what was going on in Cuba. ● The reports of spanish atrocities were told to Hearst that they were exaggerated ● "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."

These reports were nonetheless based on some truth. (left) The USS An explosion 18 years in the making

● The USS Maine was an armored cruiser launched in November 1889 ● The Maine was docked in Harbor during the Cuban War of Independence ● On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded while docked, killing three-fourths of the crew. ● Several American newspapers (notably Pulitzer and Hearst) jumped on the story, promptly claiming that Spain blew up the ship ○ (They totally didn’t) “Remember the Maine, to h*ck with Spain!”

● The newspapers realized that a war ● An internal report conducted in 1898 would sell more papers, and published found that an external naval mine was inflammatory material the cause of the explosion ○ Blatant falsehoods and exaggerations ○ Several officers disagreed, instead were published (see what was just pointing to an explosion in the talked about) munitions caused by a fire in coal ● Eventually, the US intervened in the storage Cuban War of independence, and ■ The coal was known to emit following a whole bunch of stuff, someone something called firedamp declared war on someone else which seems like a big red flag ○ There was this whole “Oh it's been de but I guess that’s none of my facto war” thing, and stuff got business backdated