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THE SPANISH -AMERICAN WAR of 1898 and the Journal’s boisterous support for it would be another key death blow to the “journalism of action.” (Though support for the war was widespread among newspapers of the day, there were marked differences in how they behaved. Hearst’s paper managed to distinguish itself by being louder and more outrageous than the rest.)
The benefit of hindsight has served to reduce the amount of blame laid at the feet of the yellow papers for starting the war. They played a role but not a decisive one. What is true, however, is that the lead-up to the war, and the war itself, was the low point of a low period in journalism, a time when its excesses and errors led to the rise of a more dispassionate, fact-based model of reporting that would be adopted as the vision of a more professionalized press. In many ways, the Spanish American War was the last loud gasp of yellow journalism. Without yellow journalism, we might not have the journalism of today. Times were changing, and the Times was on the ascendant.
“As the century progressed, violations of the truth, while they were certainly not eliminated from journalism, began to be looked upon more seriously,” wrote Mitchell Stephens in A History of News. “Accuracy had become a sacred duty because facts increasingly were held sacred.”
By the end of the nineteenth century, the period of yellow journalism had drawn to a close and participants such as Pulitzer began working to move journalism in a more respectable, professionalized direction. With this shift, the New York Times began its ascent to its place as the most influential newspaper in America, if not the world. Near the end of the century, Pulitzer placed a prominent notice of the new ethic on a newsroom wall at the New York World:
“THE FACTS\u2014THE COLOR-THE FACTS!” read one sign. “ACCURACY! ACCURACY! ACCURACY!” commanded another. Pulitzer saw the writing on the wall, but in another sense: The journalism of action and the era of yellow journalism were over. In 1913, due to his recognition of the difficulties in distinguishing that which is true and that which is false,” Ralph Pulitzer, Joseph’s son, created a Bureau of Accuracy and Fair Play at The World<\/em>, and with it came the first newspaper ombudsman.
Excerpted from page 44-45 of \u2018Regret the Error\u2019 by Craig Silverman<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"