Remember the New York Journal!
Slate’s Jack Shafer writes a great article on Yellow Journalism that is really not much more than a long(ish) review of two books that are now on my reading list: The Year That Defined American Journalism: 1897 and the Clash of Paradigms and Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies.The books, and the review, argue that the yellow journalism of the early part of the century has not been given a fair shake:
yellow papers published a fair amount of sober financial, political, and diplomatic information. They crusaded against the privileged and the powerful; they exposed corruption in government and corporations and probably encouraged the rise of magazine muckraking in the early twentieth century. The yellow papers also paid reporters well, which is a big plus in their favor.
H.L. Mencken was a fan of sorts. Assessing William Randolph Hearst in the May 1927 issue of the American Mercury, he praised the aging press mogul for his accomplishments. Hearst’s yellow journalism “shook up old bones, and gave the blush of life to pale cheeks,” Mencken wrote. “The government we suffer under is still corrupt, but, especially in the cities, it is surely not as corrupt as it used to be. Yellow journalism had more to do with that change than is commonly put to its credit.”
One of my favorite parts about moving to New York has been seeing the cover of the New York Post every day (Though chances are if I was still in Boston I would be finding myself with increasing affection for the Herald). Telling both sides of the story is important and Shafer does list some of the unsavory practices that the scandal sheets engaged in, but I would love to see a little more crusading in our modern papers.
Blogs, I think, have somewhat picked up the mantle of yellow journalism. Most blogs I read are a combination of fact and opinion. They link to an outrage, add some commentary/additional facts and then some link to a way to donate to a cause or get in touch with a government official. Bloggers also never forget that their job is to get eyeballs. I personally roll my eyes a little every time I read about the important role journalists play in our democracy. Sure, but Woodward and Bernstein sold a lot of papers too.