Exaggeration, Exaggeration read all about it!

Exaggeration is the strong insidious enemy of Truth

Yellow Journalism is a form of reporting that was bred through the competition of two major New York News Paper’s of the time, the New York Journal and New York World. Both Newspapers engaged in heavy exaggeration in order to gain readers. Through yellow journalism these newspapers created their own cartoon version of the “Yellow Kid”, which was a cartoon started by the comic of “Hogan’s Alley”.

Yellow Kid. Yellow Journalism
There we have it

But was Yellow Journalism merely a color chosen for the article font?

The basis and root of this form of Journalism was exaggeration. Lies, Lies, and more Lies. There wasn’t just one cow, but a field of cows. Yellow Journalism exaggerated real life accounts in order to create a response from the nation and attract readers. After all, who wants to read about one wounded soldier when you can read about the wounded soldier plus his young wife, shot down next to their three year old son and his four year old sister. The readers were drawn to the helpless women and children that were being targeted and emphasized by the media.

It was media that invented facts, which in turn created propaganda to unite and Nationalize the United States against the tapas eating “Enemy”…Espana.

The peak of the Yellow Journalism ice berg hit the empathy in readers-Titanic with the way the sinking of the Maine was reported. According to the first story in Pulitzer’s New York World, the News Paper carried a banner headline that left little doubt about who was responsible: ”Maine Explosion Caused by Bomb or Torpedo?”. The reporting of the Maine caused outrage.

This type of information tugged at the hearts of families all across the nation and created a response. Exactly what the head of these News Papers wanted.

The two News Paper editors, Pulitzer and Hearst were hungry for attention and filed with lust to fabricate any event in order to have the scoop on something that everyone wanted to know. This drive to beat one another was the main basis in a decision that changed the lives of many Americans.

Yellow Journalism is most fondly remembered for the creation of a war. The Spanish American War.

In one article written at the time, a Spanish woman became the victim when the newspaper twisted the truth by allowing the readers believe that the Spanish soldiers had undressed and abused her. The Journal’s headline read: ”Does Our Flag Shield Women?

But with yellow Journalism , it seems as though the the only thing the flag shielded was the truth.

“You furnish the pictures and I will furnish the war” Said Hearst in the New York Times article, “Remember Yellow Journalism”.

The competition was intense and these News paper gods failed in making sure the events and information being printed was accurate. Po-tay-to… P-oh-ta-toh, I guess.

Datelines were faked. Events were faked. Ethics were being drowned in the rum given to bribe officials.

Yellow journalism was the seed that sprouted hate towards the Spanish in the heads of the American’s who purchased these newspapers. Any minor account that had happened or was committed by the Spanish was immediately blown up. The perfect formula for instant outrage.

“Nothing in our news report – words, photos, graphics, sound or video – may be fabricated”- Associated Press News Values and Principles

These are the words of the Journalism bible that are meant to be strictly followed. But are they?

It is no lie to say that Journalism has come very far from the days of “Yellow Journalism”. Reporters(for teh most part) follow ethical guidelines to make sure that the public is in fact receiving first hand accounts on world wide issues. Datelines are honored and video isn’t edited to make it seem like there is a new Victoria’s Secret that opened up on Mars. International Correspondents report from the scene of conflict and bring back authentic interviews and photos.
Integrity in Journalism is a strong ideal but not everyone follows it to the extent that it should be followed. Recently, many reports have been submerging on Journalists who have twisted the truth. The articles have not falsified and exaggerated events as strongly as in the Spanish-American War.. but it cannot be said that lies in journalism are non present.

The excitement of reporting a war is one that Journalists rush to. Sometimes, the journalist wants to have the importance of having been on the front without having to actually be at the front.

War is a topic that tends to be exaggerated in today’s day and age as well as during the time of “Yellow Journalism”.

In the name of truth, 2003 wasn’t the best year for many journalists.

The accounts reported by Brian Williams in the war on Iraq in 2003, are sprinkled with lies and exaggeration. Williams, an NBC news anchor was not in a helicopter brought down by a grenade in the midst of War. This story may have gotten him into the beds of many ladies but not into the hearts of Millions of Americans watching him. The unveiling of deceit encouraged him to step down.

In a 2003 scandal, a New York Times reporter, Jayson Blair, 27, routinely faked articles. Quotes were faked as well as datelines. Houses next to corn fields which he had never even been to, were described with so much detail. His Articles, only a canvas of his imagination. Blair was living the life by publishing articles “written” in New-Delhi or Venice when all along he was sitting in the comfort of his own couch.

The New Republic newspaper also suffered with fake accounts in their reports when their Journalist, Stephen Glass was caught in 1998.

We extended normal human trust to someone who basically lacked a conscience… We busy, friendly folks, were no match for such a willful deceiver… We thought Glass was interested in our personal lives, or our struggles with work, and we thought it was because he cared. Actually, it was all about sizing us up and searching for vulnerabilities. What we saw as concern was actually

Although “Yellow Journalism” has mostly evaporated in the journalism color spectrum, other forms of journalism have also appeared. One being: Tabloid Journalism.

The exaggeration of truth found in tabloid media is one to be for the most part expected. Katie Holmes giving birth to Alien baby doesn’t seem too plausible, but still emphasizes the point that lies continue to be found in journalism. Accounts of exaggeration on the cover of media sells, and this is why some forms of media continue to do so.

Yellow Journalism can also be seen as the result of greed. In developed nations, the thirst to climb the career ladder can drive journalists to exaggerate claims in order to have their story distributed. Many channels and their anchors have resorted to stereotyping, snarky interviewing and sly editing to manipulate their viewers. “Such anchors, engage in “character assassination” and “rank propaganda” to manipulate viewers have completely ruined the credibility of journalists” according to an article in the Oslo Times.

So what are the reasons behind this tendency towards melodrama and exaggeration? The first is old-fashioned sensationalism. We journalists are apt to invest events with that extra degree of importance, and the television camera, which lingers on the dead body and the burnt-out tank, aids that process. But war and reporting real live events is such a serious business that all journalists should strive to be as accurate and unsensational as possible.

For the most part one can agree that “Yellow Journalism” is gone, but traces can still be found. Viewers as well as fellow Journalists must always have their guard up against lies and exaggeration of the truth.