Yellow journalism is a type of journalism that contained exaggerated stories paired with eye-catching photos, drawing many readers. Historians throughout the years believe this is the cause for the Spanish-American War; however this is deceitful. Although many articles were intentionally made to anger Americans, thus causing war, the yellow press had no effect on the decision to declare war against Spain. The real cause is the sinking of the Battleship Maine.
The term-yellow journalism was first used to describe William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer’s articles. The two were both owners of newspapers in New York and fought against each other to increase their newspaper’s popularity. As soon as Hearst published his first issue in the New York Journal in 1895, he was in competition for the best newspaper against Pulitzer, who owned New York World. To increase readership, the two would publish articles depicting how Spain abused their power on Cuba. Between 1895 and 1898, Cuba revolted against Spain. The Cubans finally gained independence, but while they were in the process of overthrowing Spain, Americans were deciding whose side they were on. The yellow press made it
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“Female prisoners, executions, valiant rebels fighting, and starving women and children figured in many of the stories that filled the newspaper.” He would even send artists to Cuba, just to draw pictures that would make people purchase his newspaper. The “papers depicted Spanish behavior as exaggeratedly bad, and political cartoons depicted ‘Spain’ as a nearly subhuman and brutal monster, while ‘Cuba’ was usually depicted as a pretty little white girl pushed around by the Spanish monster.” Furthermore, the newspapers contained a photo of American women being inappropriately searched by Spanish male security guards. This was later proven to be false, as women were only searched by other