"Yellow" Journalism

I found myself thinking about the term a few weeks ago.  I don't remember what made me consider it; maybe a terribly slanted news story from Faux News, maybe just a conversation about Teddy Roosevelt, but anyway my mind wandered down the path of how journalism has changed and not changed over the years.

I get tired of "newspeople" whose only credentials are a pretty face and an empty mind.  More and more these days, the stuff you hear on network news is opinion, not fact.  I know that facts can be bent and shaped.  I rarely watch network news these days.  Here in Los Angeles, every "newscaster" seems to be auditioning for a part in a film, not reporting the news.  I try to read a variety of news sources and make up my on mind about the truth.

The term "Yellow Journalism" was applied to the Hearst Newspaper Empire.  I like to think of him as the Rupert Murdoch of his day, rich and clueless but forcing his vision of the world on an unsuspecting mass; the story about the Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill, for instance.  Picture it in your mind if you have heard about it.  Do you see men on horseback charging up the hill?  Yes, you do.  Did you know that only Teddy Roosevelt had a horse?  The rest were left behind in some huge logistical boondoggle, along with about half the soldiers.  BUT when they story came in, Hearst wanted the drawings ( no photos at that time) to be more dramatic so he commissioned someone to FAKE them.  Sort of like what goes on on the Internet these days.  A juicy rumor is SO much better than a dry fact.  People delight in spreading malicious gossip and outright lies.  I rarely read some of the poison being slug about Obama these days.  I can't remember if the hate-mongering was so fierce for Bush.  Probably not.  I don't think "liberals"  called for him to be shot or equated him with the Devil.  I am glad there are photos of Obama in bare feet or some "Christian" agency would probably claim he had cloven hooves.

There is a new newspaper in town, starting up in a few weeks.  We already have tow, one that states they are the good news in town and one that delights in attacking everyone and anyone, except those in their circle.  They make no bones about it.  It's sad, really that people feel the need to attack one another in print.  What good does it do?   That particular paper, when I moved up here ten years ago had IN ALL SERIOUSNESS a recipe for squirrel stew.  This is a small town.  I wonder what we will do with THREE newspapers, since they say that print media is on it's way out.  Should be interesting, if nothing else.