Yellow Journalism And The Cuban Revolution

Yellow journalism began right after the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Cuba, which was a colony of the Kingdom of Spain. According to Sandra Sipes (1982), she found out the origin of yellow journalism was coined after Richard Outcault's comic, "The Yellow Kid" (p. 13). It was adopted by the New York World, a newspaper published in New York City and ran by Joseph Pulitzer. The New York Journal-American, another newspaper in the same city, managed to brought out Outcault with “an exorbitant salary increase” (Sipes, 1982, p. 13). Thus, it began a rivalry between Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst, owner of the New York Journal-American. Their rivalry included publishing “exaggerated headlines and fabricated stories” (p. 791) according to Jessica Jackson (2014). When the Battleship Maine sank, both newspapers agreed to put their rivalry aside so they

Thanks to George Auxier (1940), we can learn what middle west newspapers did to start the Spanish-American War. Auxier (1940) said that the editors used manifest destiny to point out that “presence in [the Caribbean] was inimical to the consummation of America’s ‘manifest destiny’” (p. 524). The midwest newspapers and their editors used the spirit of manifest destiny to manipulate people into supporting war with Spain. They also argued that economic interest for America was jeopardized and American properties within the island were being destroyed; however, the most powerful argument point was that Spain's possessions in the Caribbean were endangered of “fall[ing] into the hands of a stronger European power” (Auxier, 1940, p. 525). The point that another European empire (British Empire, French Republic, etc.) had the ability to take over those islands posed a threat to America. With the help from pro-Cuban independence groups, the press would gain enough sympathy for Americans to support a war with