What is Yellow Journalism?

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 “Nurses in Safety Gear Got Ebola, Why Wouldn’t You?”, “Abraham Lincoln Was a Woman!”, “Hillary Clinton Adopts Alien Baby”. What do these headlines have in common besides being prime examples of the media’s deceptive nature? They are all sensationalized headlines, meant to grab your attention and to misinform you. Since the dawn of media, sensationalized headlines and stories have been published to capture one’s attention. These melodramatic pieces of work are often deemed as untrue and, occasionally, downright ridiculous. This tactic used by many media sources all around the globe (specifically America) is called yellow journalism,  the use of sensationalism to lure common people to works of media in order to gain more popularity .

        Yellow journalism has a vast and rich history that dates back almost 200 years. In the year 1898, the United States and Spain were having quite the ordeal and were said to be bombing each other’s ships. One night, a US Battleship sunk and many Americans automatically blamed the Spanish. Although it was proven that this ship sunk due to a mine explosion, a newspaper disregarded this proposition and insisted a war against the Spanish. This newspaper spurred outrage among the general public, and thus began the Spanish-American War. It is nearly unbelievable that the first account of yellow journalism in history was one that started a nearly ten month war. Well, it is believable. This, however, was just the beginning of a long string of sensationalized headlines that led the public to believe whatever the media was issuing out. Throughout the years, yellow journalism has spread through tabloids, news articles, websites, and just about any other mass media source you can think of.
Surprisingly, yellow journalism doesn’t only cover the wrongdoings of the Spanish. It is known to cover a broad variety of topics. From social justice issues to politics to celebrities’ children, there are no boundaries when it comes to this practice. Yellow journalism is practically a plague that has corrupted several news sources for years; from “Newsweek” to “FOX News” to “People Magazine”, there is a repetitive pattern of false allegations and over exaggeration plaguing our media stands and websites. Many of these media outlets must believe it just isn’t any fun simply using facts, that adding their own little touch will sell the most. Moreover, many well-known public figures’ reputations have been tarnished due to yellow journalism.  It comes as no surprise that this practice has impacted people’s lives in major ways. Not only does it spread false information, but it also puts ideas into people’s minds that are far from true, this could become brutal when it comes to covering celebrities or powerful political figures. Yellow journalism could potentially ruin a person’s life and reputation, but reputation-ruining sells as media has proven time and time again.

         The worst part about yellow journalism, however, is not that it starts wars, ruins reputations, and misleads people, but that it works. Unfortunately, people will believe that Hillary Clinton has somehow had an alien baby and kept it secret from the public. This will cause them to buy into the news source that came out with this preposterous headline, therefore feeding the monster that spouted out such ridiculous allegations. In short, media understands that if it peaks your curiosity, you will buy it. This is great for selling you their news, but it’s not great for you when you find out the work of media you bought is anything but the truth. This sort of deception has taken people’s money for over two hundred years and will likely continue to thrive as media progresses. In conclusion, don’t buy into what yellow journalism is trying to sell you, even if it does sound as interesting as a political candidate having an alien baby or the slight chance that you might contract a disease most prevalent in a third world country.