Oversea expansion was no doubt influenced by the media, more specifically yellow journalism. One of the first few wars involving large scale media was the Spanish American War. Media was a means to boost the nation's morale and unite the nation against a common enemy for a common cause. One of the styles of journalism most prominent at the time was "yellow journalism" led by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. The term came from a character dressed in yellow that was depicted on a New York World comic, "Hogan's Alley", who adapted the name "the yellow kid". To compete with Pulitzer's New York World, Hearst's New York Journal imitated the sensationalist style of Pulitzer and even hired the same cartoonist that had created "Hogan's Alley". This style of journalism was romantic, melodramatic, and exaggerated many of the events that occurred leading up to the Spanish American War.
In the Cuban Revolt of 1895, American journalists portrayed the Spanish as harsh oppressors, shutting down Cuba's desire for independence. Hearst and Pulitzer, both being pro-imperialist used yellow journalism to elicit emotional reactions towards the Cuban revolt and to evoke sympathy among the American public. Much of the events reported in yellow journalism was far from the truth, twisted in every aspect in attempt to gain sympathy for Cubans and hatred for the Spanish. Yellow journals like New York Journal and New York World published stories of female prisoners, starving children and women, executions, and heroic rebels fighting for their cause, much like Americans once fought for theirs. More importantly, Hearst's hit newspaper was published, the sink of the battleship Maine in Cuba. Without evidence, Hearst blamed the Spanish for this accident and caused the American public opinion to demand intervention in this cause. Yellow journalism marks the beginning of media and press's influence over the public morale in America and how these public opinions spark intervention through war.
Source:
http://www.pbs.org/crucible/frames/_journalism.html
Yellow journalism could be compared to the Committee of Public Information of World War I. The CPI controlled what information about the war was allowed to reach the eyes and ears of the American public, thus shaping public opinion, much like yellow journalism did.
ReplyDeleteAn important division of the CPI was the Division of Civic and Economic Cooperation, which churned out anti-German pamphlets to be distributed. Much of the facts and accusations the pamphlets contained were academically questionable, just like how yellow journalists would twist the facts so that it elicited sympathy.
It is interesting how even though the names by which we label devices of propaganda have changed, they are essentially carrying out the same task, just on a larger scale.
Source:
http://www.propagandacritic.com/articles/ww1.cpi.html
It is very interesting to analyze the way in which yellow journalism has changed America's role in foreign relationships over the years. However, I think is it also very interesting how yellow journalism has been used inside the United States as well. In the early 1900's the so-called muckrakers were quick to criticize everything that was wrong in the United States, and somehow they did manage to cause the creation of reforms in the United States. One example is Upton Sinclair. In this book The Jungle he employed grotesque depictions of the meatpacking industry in order to convince people that something had to be done to improve the conditions of the meatpacking industry.
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/upton-sinclair-is-born