What was yellow journalism and muckraking? What was the difference between the two? How do they play a role in our society today?
During the early 19th century, yellow journalism was introduced; a specific news reporting style that played an important role in the turn of American Journalism. The concept of yellow journalism was coined from a particular type of writing in which authors would write from their individual point of view in order to publicize or convince people about a certain belief or political cause. This type of newspaper reporting manipulated people’s opinions and deterred itself from being both factual and true. However, these news stories were successful in grabbing readers’ attention.
The main goal for yellow journalists was simply to entice readers in order to sell papers. They had the ability to influence public opinions and reactions to specific events through the use of personal ideas and information consisting of a biased nature. The most common examples of yellow journalism included appealing and misleading headlines which were typed in bold, large letters. It also included fake interviews and information from unknown sources. We are familiar with this type of journalism method today, as unproven evidence and the citing of unknown sources are still common. Today, some refer to this journalism style as “fake news,” which is a term used to describe news reporting of inaccurate events or events that never even occurred. Some of today’s media like CNN have acquired a reputation for misinforming and misreporting the news. Nevertheless, this type of news reporting is still successful in attracting public attention because people thrive on gossip.
Muckraking was another journalism concept that played an important role in the turn of American Journalism and was also introduced during the early 19th century. One was referred to as a muckraker if they were a journalist who attempted to expose corruption occurring in a business or the government to the public. These types of journalists worked extremely hard to put a stop to corruption and injustices.
The journalistic approach of muckraking can easily be compared to the act of whistleblowing. A modern-day example of a muckraker is Julian Assange, who was the founder of a website called Wikileaks. Assange used this website to share confidential information with the public and exposed the government by posting military documents about the war in Iraq. Instead of being admired for his work, Assange was arrested and thought of as a criminal. However, he was proud of his efforts and successfully used today’s technology to get the truth out to the public.
We sometimes don’t realize that yellow journalism and muckraking have been around since the early 19th century. However, it seems to be more prevalent today. Our advanced technology has allowed news to quickly spread and stories to become instantly viral due to people’s reactions. Nevertheless, both people and news sources are becoming more and more aware of this and are realizing how fast negative news travels, especially about celebrities, politics, and public figures.
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