The power of the written word will always play a vital role in the field of journalism. However, in an effort to have a more emotional impact journalist need the use of visuals to really drive their point in. I think that today photos can be more persuasive than the written word. Photos allow journalists to capture a viewer that they otherwise would not have been able to reach. Thomas Nast was one of the first journalists to show the power that images can have. Nast used the power of visuals to expose the corruption of Marcy Tweed. This method of communication was successful because the images appealed to people’s basic sense of right and wrong. “Because he trafficked in images rather than huge blocks of words, Nast also was able to overcome the language difference ad high illiteracy rate in nineteenth century New York – even people who didn’t buy Harper’s saw Nast’s images being hawked by newsboys on street corners throughout the city,” (Streitmatter, 2012). Due to the massive impact of these images, Nast …show more content…
In fact, John Pulitzer showed how these images can often distort the truth. This disgraceful method of reporting became known as “yellow journalism”. A battle for readers led to stories being twisted. One of the most distorted was the Cuban coverage. William Hearst sent Harding Davis and Frederic Remington to Cuba to report and illustrate the coverage there. When they found nothing out of the ordinary Hearst instructed them to furnish pictures anyway (Streitmatter, 2012). Images such as women being submitted to strip searches by the Spaniards spark rebellion back in America. This inaccurate coverage of Cuba primed the path for the distorted of the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine where Spanish officials were blamed. These events helped pull the trigger into the war. Today the Spanish-American war in still known as a war fueled by the media and one that Hearst has been highly blamed