by Soyoung Park
Re-reading "Citizen Hearst : A Biography of William Randolph Hearst" by W. A. Swanberg always brings me back the memory of how astonished I was at the change of media role in the society and government changed: I was in junior high school, when I happened to stumbled on the book. Supported by the Constitution's 1st amendment("Freedom of Speech") the media are becoming a monster that dictates what we should think and how to view the world. If not the first one to achieve media running the government, Hearst should at least get recognition for being most successful at it. Deception Hearst's New York Journal played on the American public and the government into the Spanish-American War is an unforgivable act that should never be allowed to repeat.
Introduction
While surfing the web, with queries like "Hearst", "Yellow journalism", "Pulitzer",
"New York Journal" and the "Spanish-American War" few websites were found that shared my disgust.
The one is http://anotherside.org/me/m18.htm, with heading "Clinton Administration Manipulation
of News - Is it working? : Media Manipulating of American Emotions to Start a War - an American
Tradition" by Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources, April 8, 1999. The author of the article
wasn't shy about blaming the New York Journal and the Yellow Press of the time for taking the
opportunity to generate high circulation with fanning the U.S. into a war against Spain:
Those stories[stories from the New York Journal and the New York World] activated politicians: "It is my opinion that war with Spain is becoming more inevitable by the hour," Theodore Roosevelt said. In January, 1898, President William McKinley ordered the American battleship USS Maine into Cuban waters to "protect American interests in Cuba."
To my surprise there were many websites covering the "Spanish-American War" in different perspectives, emphasizingTeddy Roosevelt's role and other factors while forgetting the effect of blasting media, the New York Journal owned & operated by William Randolph Hearst.
Who is William Randolph Hearst?
Let's first cover the summary of who William Randolph Hearst is and what role he played
during early 20th century, with yellow jouranlism and the Spanish American War.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/4850/1hearst.html is a useful site to get a basic biography
on Hearst in unbiased fashion. As the website describes "William Randolph Hearst was born on
April 29, 1863, to George and Phoebe Hearst. His father was a multi-millionaire and became
a partner in three of the largest mining discoveries in American history." He, as a sole heir,
was spoiled with all the material things while growing up, and entered Harvard, only to be
expelled for his behavior problems. Afterward, he started his ambition in newspaper business
with his father's San Francisco Examiner in 1880s. Afterward, he moved to New York, acquired
New York Journal, and began a war against Pulitzer's New York Journal. The Spanish-American
War happen to come along at the right time, it seems.
Of course New York Journal wasn't the first time Hearst employed his newspaper publishing to his mission in fact-bending business. His potential is easily seen from his work with the San Francisco Examiner, reviving a dying Examiner with whatever he could spicy up the articles. Without any statistics to support his claim, he often ran some big figures as the Examiner's circulation status. Read http://fly.hiwaay.net/~mpickens/hearst/sensa.html to learn how manipulative Hearst was: "The man was also not unwilling to occassionally fudge the truth. His Examiner, for example, ran a piece on a fictional street urchin who was the sole source of support for his fictional younger siblings. The piece struck such a chord that follow-ups were published, including a piece on the financial salvation of the orphans by loyal Examiner readers."
What is Yellow Journalism and what is its significance?
Like old saying the pen was mighter than the sword, or anything else, in the case of the Spanish-American War.
Though Hearst is a chief culprit the role the media in general, umbrellaed under "Yellow Journalism" should never be overlooked.
The main acomplice to Hearst, of course, was Pulitzer; "Two publishers, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, stood out
among these opportunists ? perceived the conflict with Spain as their chance to increase circulation of their newspapers."
The term yellow journalism is "a direct result of the controversies between Pulitzer's New York World and Hearst's New York
Journal over Outcault's Yellow Kid. "
Not all the media was in the war frenzy mode: Harper'sWeekly and the New York Times were brave enough to counter-attack Hearst & Pulitzer's grossly exagerated accusation of the Spanish sinking the battleship Maine. And, many conscious college students, like those from Packard College, voiced their anger atht eyello press twisting the truth .
But the sensationalism created and roused by the "yellow press" had tremendous affect on the number of circulation they enjoyed. Shameless acts Hearst and few of the journalists began under the name of "yellow journalism" being quoted as a style, and that journalists nowadays should learn is totally unacceptable.
Unforgivable Acts Hearst executed while promoting the Spanish-American War
The owner of website http://www.spanam.simplenet.com/Hearst.htm calls it "some very intelligent moves" that Hearst
recruited some very talented writers from Pulitzer's staff for more money. Indeed it was a " Short and One-sided War."
Like the author of the website indicates the public and the government, including president McKinley, wanted to avoid the
war and resolve the issue of sunken ship until inflamation the New York Journal and rest of the yellow press endorsed to
extreme.
Hearst's biography, as well as the articles in the New York Journals, will be the witness to all the wicked deeds he performed in order to finally drag the U.S. into the war. From the day the battleship Maine sunk 'til the war against Spain was declared, Hearst will, like in his good old days at the Examiner, invent stories of Cubans being abused by Spanish solders.
Employing false stories, using cartoons and exagerated sketches(one should compare the photos other papers used against the shocking sketch the New York Journal put on the first page under the headline), were few of the means Hearst instigated absolutely unnecessary war.
Different View: Indifferences and the advocacy of the sensations Hearst created
Some websites covering the Spanish-American War showed impassivity toward the role New York Journal and the rest of
Yellow Journalism bands played. Take a look at http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/stream/faq45-11.htm; "Bolstered by wide-spread
sympathy for those who were seeking Cuban independence from Spain's colonial rule, the emotion-charged Maine tragedy forced the
already strained Spanish-American relations to the breaking point, precipitating a short war rapidly decided by two naval engagements."
To those who have seen kind of articles and political cartoons Hearst exhibited on the New York Journal will know how disgusting this sounds.
Worse yet, there are websites, like http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic/spanamer.html, that even patronizes calling the papers strident "yellow press" and quoting "Dewy was the morning, and Dewey was the man, that sank the Spanish Navy, upon the First of May." As a victory reported by the "yellow press." And the author of the website is bold enough to claim that the American public were pooled into the war "to aid the suffering inhabitants of neighboring Cuba."
Conclusion:
Media is a dear medium, and has proved its valuable service throughout time. Every national and international events are covered, and so are the disasters, as recent as the shooting spree happened far away in a Colorado high school. But learning about how the power given to the media has been abused is very discouraging to trust the media. Isn't it the media blowing the Clinton scandal out of proportion until the public got sick and tired of it?
Hearst's attempt to ploy the mind of unsuspecting citizens into the war, being one of stronger case, is a good reminder for us all. Just compare the articles and the cartoons on the New York Journal and other prestigious papers like the Washington Post and New York Times of the time. The sketch-photo of General Dewy on those papers will be the witness of how ridiculously the New York Journal stretched the truth to enforce their view: the pictures of General Dewy on the New York Journal portrays him as a comic character/ a fool that public will have little or no respect while the man. The topic, the sinking of the battleship Maine and the Spanish-American War that followed, were the head topic, occupying half, if not full, of the first page on the New York Journal for days while papers like the New York Times covered other incidents that went on. All his doing to promote the war were strictly against almost every items on his "Editorial Guidelines," which can be found at http://hearstcorp.com/ah8b.html.
There is no doubt the "Spanish-American war was the first war of the Correspondents." Let's learn from the past mistakes, so to avoid repeating them again. As powerful as the media may seem after reviewing the truth behind the Spanish-American war, don't forget that they're meek before conscious readers. The president and the government are powerless before the group of intelligent citizens. So should the selective group of the tyrant media be; the media should be guided to report the truth, to aid the public with overlooked minority issues, and focus on the validity and speed and not on what rating and the circulation they can benefit from.