Other Definitions
yellow journalism (dict)
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Yellow JournalismYellow journalism is a term given to widespread tendencies or practices within journalist organizations which are viewed as inconsiderate of journalistic integrity, and are therefore academically judged to be inferior to those with such integrity. To a large degree, "yellow journalism" refers to news reporting that bears only a superficial resemblance to journalism, and whose competing "news" readership maintains a baseless impression that their "news" operates under the same principles of factual reporting that more well-reputed organizations do. Instead of "yellow journalism," media bias is the commonly used misnomer among the general public, whom by and large tend to be unaware of journalistic professionalism, wherein the term "yellow journalism" has a long and sordid history. Meaning The term, as it commonly applies, refers to news organizations for whom sensationalism, profiteering, and in some cases propaganda and jingoism, take dominance over factual reporting. Most cases tend to be related to journalistic bias, and the indemic practices of particular organizations to operate as mouthpieces, for rather limited and particular allegiances, rather than for the public trust. Recent accusations of yellow journalism center around media infotainment and corporate media, referring to organizations where business interests supercede the interests of news organizations to accurately report damaging facts about influential corporations and common practices within corporate industry. In certain cases, the links between political, business, and media worlds, are alleged to violate various laws ranging from fraud to antitrust. In the modern context of rapid television news coverage, a percieved common careless lack of fact-checking for the sake of a breaking news story may be reffered to as yellow journalism. Artifacts or symptoms of yellow journalism can vary at the minimum from the sporadic use of unnecessarily colorful adjectives, up to a pervasive and systematic tendency for reporting falsehoods as fact. (See also talking points memo). Currency The term has largely fallen into disuse as the media world has grown both in scope and in complexity. Further, because most media outlets have cultural allegiances or business practices which to one degree or other force them to deviate from idealized concepts of reporting, accusations of "yellow journalism" tend to be few. Instead, journalists tend towards building a reputation of consistent and thorough professionalism, whereby their reportage may be both respected and widely cited, over that of others. But within the context of the popularity televised fast-paced "news", many professional journalists see themselves as belonging to an altogether different profession than their counterparts in the television media; news anchors for example are chosen not for their skills at journalism but for their presentation, appearance, and personality. Blogs to some degree have been a great boon to journalists, allowing them to comment in ways that their commissioned articles cannot. Hence the current rift is not characterized as one between journalists, but one between journalists and media, whom have by and large usurped and redefined the term "news." While the line between journalism and news may seem clear to professionals, the public typically has a reflexive and dogmatic tendency to connote "news" with "journalism." It is from this tendency that so "pseudo-news" organizations draw their general audiences, who tend fall into market demographics that each favor particular blends of issues-based entertainment along with their "news." Because of these developments, the common definition of "news" no longer belongs in the domain of journalists, but to wider television and internet media outlets over a vast spectrum of target issues and audiences. In a certain sense, the propagation of web media has given rise to the legitimacy of journalistic ethics, as reports that conform best to such ethics tend to be treated more authoritatively. However, reputation and ethics do not necessarily coincide, and well established institutions such as the New York Times, can and do tend to be faulted for bias. Many journalists have at various times expressed a sense of frustration with their jobs, and the conflicts between their employment and their professionalism as journalists. The Yellow press The sensationalized human-interest stories of the yellow press increased circulation and readership heavily throughout the 19th century, especially in the United States. Early practitioners, such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, seem to have equated the sensational reporting of murders, gory accidents, and the like, with the need of the democratic common man to be entertained by subjects beyond dry politics. Two early yellow newspapers were Pulitzer's New York World and Hearst's New York Journal American. The term derived from the color comic strip character The Yellow Kid, who appeared in both these papers. (See also symbolism of yellow) Hearst While most early newspapers tended toward expressing a viewpoint, the prototypical example of yellow journalism was the late 19th century Hearst Newspapers' consistent and deliberate falsification of whole incidents, claiming a humanitarian crisis among Cubans at the hands of Spanish troops. Hearst had personally written or directed the production of a number of sensational stories that exaggerated the claims of Spanish cruelty toward their Cuban subjects. The stories, combining both a sense of urgency and moral outrage, were wildly popular, and Hearst directed his papers to market and exploit this trend to the fullest. Having been successful not only in convincing the public for the cause for war, Hearst had managed to sway the political vote as well. This reporting sparked a public outcry that led to the Spanish-American War, wherin American intervention proved to be disastrous. Americans would soon find themselves occupying both Cuba and the Philippines, and Hearst found himself courted by politicians seeking his powers of influence. In fiction In many movies, sitcoms and other works of fiction, reporters often use yellow journalism against the main character which typically works to set up the reporter character as an antagonist. Rita Skeeter from the Harry Potter series is a textbook example. See also External links
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