Research Round Table

 Research Round Table 

What is the difference between Yellow Journalism and Muckraking?

    The difference between Yellow Journalism and Muckraking is how information is presented. While Muckracking involves searching for scandalous types of information about a famous person or general public such as political corruption, fraudulent business practices, and industrial monopolies, Yellow Journalism focuses on exaggerating facts. According to the U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian’s webpage on U.S diplomacy, yellow journalism, is "sensationalism over the facts".


     Yellow Journalism was/is mainly used to sway or convince public opinion over international events. It especially used during the Spanish-American war to exaggerate facts to gain more attention to newspapers. 



Some individuals may view both of these journalistic aspects negatively given that both of the styles incorporate controversial and exaggerated types of potentially stretched or inaccurate information. Individuals such as research writers, scholars, news companies, political affiliates, and even some people of the general public may disapprove of these styles due to potential inaccuracies, disagreement, and gossip provoking content. 


    I believe journalists can positively use Yellow Journalism to send messages of nonmalicious and nonharmful intent. Although considered controversial during his time, Joseph Pulitzer was infamous for Yellow Journalism and was even named creator of it with William Randolph Hearst. He used Yellow Journalism to expose political corruption and social injustice. He was successful with it as his newspaper won the largest circulation in the country. I also believe Yellow Journalism is subjective to interpretation, many people can be opinionated or have expressions contrary to popular belief. Based on this, I think it's up to each person to decide if these platforms are used as a "public good" vs "public evil". 


An interesting video I found about Yellow Journalism and the Spanish-American war:


https://www.pbs.org/video/spanish-american-war-and-yellow-journalism-1ue5c0/


***all photos linked by clicking on them 


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