How Yellow Journalism Contributed to the Spanish-American War. Learn how yellow journalism played a pivotal role in inciting the Spanish-American War through sensationalist reporting and propaganda tactics.
In April 1898, the Spanish-American War began, which ended up causing the decline of Spanish colonial rule in the Western Pacific and Latin America, as well as US expansionism in the region. How did the conflict begin and what was the role of the American press in its revival?
How Yellow Journalism Contributed to the Spanish-American War
One of the key ways in which yellow journalism contributed to the Spanish-American War was through its use of manipulative headlines and false narratives. Sensationalist stories of Spanish atrocities in Cuba, such as the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana harbor, were exaggerated and distorted to evoke strong emotional responses from readers. These exaggerated accounts of Spanish aggression served to fuel anti-Spanish sentiment and create a war frenzy among the American public.
After the beginning of the Cuban War of Independence in 1895, the main American media, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World , placed special emphasis on the nobility of the Cuban revolutionaries and painted black Spanish dominion in an exceptional way.
The two newspapers with the greatest circulation and influence were the New York World and the New York Journal , owned, respectively, by billionaires Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. However, its enormous sales did not go hand in hand with the veracity of its news . Hearst’s newspaper, for example, published false information to induce the Spanish-American War , which broke out in 1898. Both newspapers tended toward the spectacular and the terrifying, without caring too much whether their sources were verified.
In fact, it was in the 1890s that the term yellow journalism was coined . It arose from the rivalry for the New York newspaper market between the main newspaper publishers: Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Initially, yellow journalism derived from a popular cartoon of The Yellow Kid drawn by Richard F. Outcault and published in color by Pulitzer’s New York World . The cartoon played an important role in the newspaper’s dramatic increase in sales.
On April 6, 1898, representatives of Germany, Austria, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Russia asked McKinley to refrain from armed intervention in Cuba. However, he responded by saying that possible American intervention would be “in the interest of humanity” and did not lend a sympathetic ear to the pleas of Pope Leo XIII. Almost simultaneously, the New York Journal printed a million copies dedicated to the Cuban war and called for the US to go to war against Spain .
Spain attempted to calm tensions and stated that it would consider the demands of the United States, except for Cuban independence. On April 10, 1898, Spanish Governor General Blanco in Cuba suspended hostilities in the war (previously, on January 1, 1898, Spain granted limited autonomy to the island).
Spain attempted to calm tensions and stated that it would consider the demands of the United States, except for Cuban independence. On April 10, 1898, Spanish Governor General Blanco in Cuba suspended hostilities in the war (previously, on January 1, 1898, Spain granted limited autonomy to the island).
Finally, Erwin Wardman , editor of the more serious New York Press, published an article in 1898 to define what he understood by that press that he described as indecent. Its title, which played with the multiple meanings of the term “yellow”, was the following: “We called them Yellow because they are Yellow” , which could be translated as “We call them yellow ”. The concept of the yellow press had taken shape.
The sensationalist reporting and propagandistic tactics employed by yellow journalists helped shape the attitudes of the American public towards Spain, leading to a swift and decisive intervention in Cuba. The legacy of yellow journalism in fueling conflict and shaping public perceptions serves as a cautionary tale of the power of the press in influencing political outcomes.