Historical Reevaluation?

Some modern historians do not consider Hearst and his Journal to be the major cause of social hysteria  concerning the Spanish-American War that they were once thought to be. Though the war was undoubtedly exploited by media magnates to sell more newspapers, that branch of yellow journalism was mostly centralized to New York City, with few instances of war sensationalism taking place elsewhere. On a national scale, the government is now thought by many to be a much larger player in shaping the country's attitude toward the Spanish, which eventually resulted in America's involvement in the war. That is not to say that Hearst, Pulitzer and their papers did not have an effect — it is just now thought to be a smaller piece of a larger propaganda machine.

Certain people will go even further with this thesis. In his book The Gilded Age Press, 1865-1900, Ted Curtis Smythe essentially relates the influence of Hearst to that of a supermarket tabloid, creating a present but ultimately superficial fervor among the East Coast public, without any serious impact of lasting effects. Moreover the techniques of New Journalism have been accused of being derivative of those used in the mid-19th century, diminishing their importance and influence. While this minimalist take on Heart's media empire is by no means the majority opinion, historical perspective has shifted the focus of the Spanish-American War away from the yellow journalists. It is possible that, despite what is usually attributed to them, it was not necessarily their war.