Introduction to the First Media War

Editorial cartoon by Leon Barritt, 1898. Newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, full-length, dressed as the Yellow Kid (a popular cartoon caricature of the day), each pushing against opposite sides of a pillar of wooden blocks that spells WAR. This is a satire of the Pulitzer and Hearst newspapers' role in drumming up USA public opinion to go to war with Spain.

The competition that drove the period of yellow journalism in the late-19th century resulted in sensational news stories and exploitative reporting from many of America's major newspapers. Chief among this genre of "new journalism" were the famed publishers William Randolph Hearst, with his New York Journal, and Joseph Pulitzer, with his New York World. Under their influence, the media gained a new resonance among the public, and with that came a newfound ability to influence policy. One of the most well-known examples of this came when Cuba sought independence from Spain, resulting in a revolutionary war. To the yellow journalists, in particular Hearst, the event created incredible potential for lurid headlines and dramatic articles that would help increase the circulation of their respective papers. Fabricated stories depicting the ruthlessness and tyranny of the Spanish against the Cubans were frequently circulated in the pages of the Journal. According to the traditional view of most historians, it was this campaign against the Spanish that got America involved in the conflict. It is perhaps the most famous instance of the media affecting America's political and military decisions.

An infamous exchange between Hearst and Frederic Remington, an artist working for his newspaper, represents the entire mentality of the press' attitude toward the war. Remington was sent on an assignment to uncover hostilities in Cuba; upon finding there were none — at least not enough to warrant Hearst's crusade — Remington wired Hearst, requesting to be sent home. He replied: "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war." Recent scholarship is skeptical this exchange ever took place, but it is used to this day as a symbol for Hearst's journalistic principles.