I'll See You at the Movies

 While film has been a regularly discussed topic in our culture for decades, but it was not until 1986 that professional film criticism became a more common way to talk about them. We have Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to thank.

Siskel was born on Jan 26, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois, and went to Yale University graduating with a degree in philosophy in 1967. After working on a political campaign he wrote press releases for the U.S. Army Reserve and subsequently got a job at the Chicago Tribune in 1969, becoming the paper's film critic within a year. 

Siskel began his broadcasting career in 1974, when the Chicago CBS station had him give reviews and features about films on-air. From 1975 to 1978, Siskel partnered with Ebert for the first time on their own show, Opening Soon at a Theater Near You on a Chicago public broadcasting station.

Ebert was born on June 18, 1942, in Urbana, Illinois. He was a sportswriter for the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette when he was 15, and was the editor in chief at The Daily Illini, the newspaper for the University of Illinois. After graduating in 1964 with a degree in journalism, and studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, Ebert began working for the Chicago Sun-Times and became their lead film critic in 1967.

Ebert was the first person to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1975 for film criticism in the previous year.

When their show was picked up by PBS in 1978 it became nationally syndicated, it was renamed to Sneak Previews, then to At the Movies in 1986. And with a final move to Buena Vista Television, it was renamed to Siskel & Ebert & the Movies. Each week the pair would discuss different films, and oftentimes disagreeing and getting into arguments on-air about certain films even when they both agreed on an overall rating.

Siskel treated movies more as entertainment while Ebert regarded them much more as an art form. The pair had a type of sibling-like banter, allowing them to connect with audiences easier and present more difficult films to mainstream audiences. 

Their style of rating films was using a thumbs-up or thumbs-down system, and eventually copywriting the phrase "two thumbs up." This rating system became very important for a film's marketing, going as far as if a film was rated two thumbs up it would be included on posters, trailers and other advertisements. 

At the height of their show's popularity an estimated 95% of households tuned in each week. They were able to popularize some films that would have been left behind by a majority of moviegoers like My Dinner With Andre or Hoop Dreams. 

The pair was able to express their love of film to audiences in a very accessible approach allowing them to appeal to all types of film fans. Being able to keep serious cinephiles interested in mainstream films and get casual audiences to care about foreign or art-house films.  

In 1998, Siskel was diagnosed with brain cancer and had surgery to remove a tumor later that year. He returned to the show later in the year, but passed away Feb 20, 1999. He was 53.

Ebert continued the show with a different guest host until 2000, when Richard Roeper, a Chicago journalist, became the permanent cohost, and renaming the show Ebert & Roeper & the Movies. 

In 2002, Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid cancer after being in remission for almost 15 years. By 2006 Ebert unofficially retired from broadcast reviewing after having his lower jaw removed, and losing the ability to speak, eat and drink. His retiremnet from his show was not confirmed until 2008, but he did begin to write more reviews on his website, rogerebert.com. 

Ebert died on April 4, 2013. He was 70.

Their Legacy

In their 25 year partnership, the show won seven Emmy awards between 1984 and 1997.

The Film Center at the Art Institute of Chicago was renamed to the Gene Siskel Film Center in 2000, and Ebert was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005. 

In his last year, Ebert wrote 306 film reviews for his blog, but took a "leave of presence" from writing that he did not return from. Today, his site is run by his wife, Chaz Ebert, with a slew of writers for each new film. 

Siskel and Ebert popularized film criticism like nothing else before or since. Then, the internet was not what it is today, and now there are countless ways for film fans to get reviews for films they want to see that are much more tailored to certain genres. 

Good Night and Good Luck - An Analysis

 The battle between the press and the government is not something new in our history. It is the press' duty is to criticize and expose the government's wrongdoings, but when they do that, the government always resorts to the same tactic, suppression of the media. 

George Clooney's Good Night and Good Luck (2005) recounts an example of this in the era of McCarthyism, and following CBS host Ed Murrow's fight against Senator Joseph McCarthy and his unjust witch hunt for "communist spies" living in America. 

Murrow saw through the lies that McCarthy was feeding the American public and used his show "See It Now" to expose McCarthy and the corruption around The Red Scare. Even when the government tried using a chilling effect, suppressing speech before it happens, or when the executives at CBS threatened to pull him and move his show's time slot to a far less favorable one, Murrow stood his ground. 

Murrow's determination for the truth helped to combat the media blackout on true communist activity in America. And when he did show the public what the government was doing was wrong, and he was punished for it. The government pressured the entire network, sending members of the military to talk with an executive at CBS, going after Murrow's writers and colleagues, and making false claims about Murrow being connected to the communist party.

By the end of the film Murrow was able to persuade the Senate to investigate McCarthy and his practices. Showing the power of the press when they are able to properly do their jobs and stay strong in their reporting. But this needs to be an ongoing practice.

Now, anyone found to be voicing their opinion that goes against the mainstream is "canceled" and silenced, along with any other opinions like it. 

Cancel culture is a new name for an old concept. McCarthyism is back and worse than before. In an age when almost everyone is connected and information travels faster than ever, people's lives and careers can be ruined in an instant, and by anyone. Some notable examples of this include actors Kevin Hart and Chris Pratt being canceled. 

Hart was scheduled to host the 2019 Academy Awards, but a Twitter user found old tweets of Hart using homophobic language between 2009 and 2011. Hart was forced to step down from hosting out of public outrage even though he apologized for using that language. Those tweets were posted almost 10 years prior and Hart had tweeted thousands of times since those tweets. The person who found these tweets were not just scrolling on their feed, they had to dig through his profile to find one time Hart stepped out of line. 

There were claims that Pratt is a member of a famously anti-LGBTQ church, launching Twitter to ridicule Pratt even though the claims turned out to be false. They did not care, they saw someone doing something they did not accept and turned on them. Pratt is a proud republican, a minority among actors, and had people combing his social media to find any connection to political figures and ideas they did not approve of.

All of this was done without any actual evidence of these claims being true, just as McCarthy did in the 1950s.

Cancel culture is also forming a new chilling effect on speech. If people are afraid of cancellation for saying something wrong, they will not say anything to keep their reputation clean. If this new form of McCarthyism is allowed to continue, the future of speech is bleak for those who do not want to live in fear of what they say and keep others in check.

EOTO 3 Reactions - Anonymous Sources

Journalism would not be possible without sources, but not all sources are the same. Some sources will remain anonymous to protect themselves from retaliation against them in their lives. Anonymous sources have been used to get information to the public that otherwise would have been kept under wraps for their own protection.

When someone asks a reporter to remain anonymous, that is a request not taken lightly by a journalist or the publication. Journalists are required to keep sources anonymous to adhere to the confidentiality they are to promise their sources when it comes to good ethical practices. 

Most publications have specific guidelines on when they will publish information from an anonymous source. Oftentimes it will be allowed if the publication knows the source is reliable, is vital to the writing and the information is not available except through the use of anonymity. 

There are drawbacks to this though. Some believe it lessens the accountability of the press because they believe it gives the journalist the power to write anything they want and label it as true because it came from an "anonymous source." 

Journalists do have some protection when it comes to using anonymous sources. Shield laws protect journalists from disclosing confidential information like identifying sources, but this is not a federal law. These vary from state to state.

Judith Miller

The Free Flow of Information Act is a proposed law that would allow a journalist to refuse to testify and reveal who their anonymous sources were in federal cases. This has been repeatedly proposed in Congress since 2005, but has never been able to be passed. It's opponents claim the law would give journalists special privileges. 

There have been instances where journalists have been punished for not disclosing their sources in court. Judith Miller, a reporter for The New York Times, went to jail for 85 days for not revealing details of a meeting she had with an anonymous source in 2005. She was released after her source, the vice-president chief of staff, was able to talk about the meeting.

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

Anonymous sources have been critical to some of the most ground-breaking stories in journalism history. While working for The Washington Post, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein used an anonymous source, later revealed to be the director of the FBI with the code name "deep throat", to break open the Watergate scandal beginning in 1972.

There are different ways for a journalist to gather information from a source and how it and the source can be used. These include on the record, on background, on deep background and off the record.

On the record is what most people associate with a source. They can be identified and everything they say can be quoted. On background restricts the journalist from directly quoting the source, and identifying them by name, but they can use their general title. On deep background only allows the journalist to use the info without quoting, and they cannot identify the source in any way. Finally, off the record means the information cannot be used, but can be used to find other sources or information.

Anonymous sources have been essential to journalism, and without them journalists would not be able to complete their duties to the fullest extent. Especially in the Watergate scandal, without an anonymous source, there would have been a much smaller chance of the public knowing what President Nixon had done if the source's identity was public knowledge beforehand. 

EOTO 3 Celebrity Journalism

 Celebrities have been a point of fascination with the general public for centuries, but what makes a celebrity has changed greatly over time. Beginning as politicians and war heroes, until today, when they are film and television stars, musicians, and professional athletes. 

Origins of Celebrity Journalism

While not in America, James Boswell was a writer for the London Magazine who used the pen name "The Hypochondriack" to write over 70 columns from 1777 until 1783. The column was focused on gossip from around London, even including public hangings. 

Anne Newport Royall

The first recorded interview with a celebrity was in 1817, with President John Quincy Adams and conducted by Anne Newport Royall. When she was first refused an interview because she was a woman, Royall discovered Pres. Adams would swim, naked, in the Potomac River at 5 a.m. every morning. So, she waited for him to begin his swim, sat on his clothes, and waited for him refusing to leave until he consented to an interview. 

Photoplay

One of the first Hollywood and gossip magazines to be published in the United States was Photoplay, from 1911 to 1980. This magazine covered news from Hollywood, information about popular stars and gossip about their personal lives. This section would give readers insight about star's marriages and divorces, affairs and other aspects that would not normally be reported by other newspapers. However, the truth of these columns was not always certain, as this column became a rumor mill of its own.

Another aspect that set Photoplay apart was how they presented the information. The magazine treated the industry as both entertainment and fun while also giving both the films and audiences a level of respect that one would give the fine arts. This magazine held the stars as priority using pictures and the gossip column. 

How Celebrity Journalism Grew Until Today

Once Photoplay began publishing, the definition of a celebrity transitioned towards actors, professional athletes, especially baseball, and musicians. Journalists also began to ask celebrities more questions about their personal lives in interviews. This led to audiences wanting to know more and more about the private lives of celebrities, feeling that knowing that information can bring them closer to their favorite stars. 

A driving factor an overall shift in celebrity journalism was the increase in households that owned a television. People were able to see their favorite film stars more often when they would appear on the news, and had stars they saw routinely on TV shows. This forced newspapers and magazines to increase the amount of color and pictures, and pushed them more towards gossip and opinion since broadcast covered the news first. But this in turn made broadcast news include more of the type of news that magazines and newspapers wrote about. 

People Magazine

This has continued into today, with tabloid magazines one can find in any checkout line at a grocery store or gas station line. These magazine covers are filled with bright pictures of the biggest stars, and colorful, bold headlines designed to grab someone's attention. Becoming a new form of yellow journalism, these tabloids take mundane gossip and sensationalize it to make people want to read it. 

One of the most popular examples of a tabloid is People magazine. People was founded in 1974, it is a weekly magazine covering the lives of celebrities and the most popular TV shows and movies at the time. 

Tabloids are not limited to print media anymore. TV shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood both are exclusively dedicated to celebrity reporting and gossip. 

People are closer to celebrities than ever before with the invention and prevalence of social media. People can now "follow" their favorite stars and see first-hand how they live their everyday lives. Gossip reporting on celebrities is still very popular for readers of The Daily Mail or E! News. Readers can "follow those publications on any social media as well, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok and even Snapchat.

Impact of Celebrity Journalism

One of the biggest impacts celebrity journalism has had on journalism as a whole is how other topics are covered. To get viewers and readers to pay attention to topics other than entertainment, writers had to treat those topics like celebrity journalism. Making elections into a form of entertainment to see who had the most appeal to audiences rather than who was the best possible candidate. 

Celebrity journalism has been a good distraction for readers since its invention, although it has been consuming more and more of our news cycle, sometimes taking the spotlight away from important topics. Most everyone knows of the Kardashian family, but not everyone knows who their Senators are. It is a good distraction to have from the "heavier" news, but there seems to be no indication of it slowing down. 

EOTO 2 Reactions: Nellie Bly

 Some people have a drive in them to prove others wrong and to do what no one else has done. Nellie Bly was one of those people.

Born in May 5 1864, with the name Elizabeth Jane Cochran, using Nellie Bly as a pen name, she became one of the first modern investigative journalists, decades before the height of the muckrakers. 

Bly got her first job at the Pittsburgh Dispatch, in 1885, by writing an angry letter to the paper in response to an article titled "What Girls Are Good For" and worked there as a reporter for about two years on the women's pages. This was also where she decided to use a pen name, choosing "Nelly Bly" originally, but after a mistake by her editor writing "Nellie" she stuck with the new one.

Leaving for New York in 1887, Bly got a job at Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, where she wrote the most important piece of her career. Going undercover at Blackwell Island's Women's Lunatic Asylum for 10 days. She published 6 gruesome exposes on the inhumane treatment and conditions, bringing justice to the patients and revolutionizing medical care in the United States. Writing two books, 10 Days in a Mad-House and Behind Asylum Bars. 

From 1886 to 1887, Bly traveled to Mexico to report on the corruption and condition of the poor, until she was deported because of her writing. In 1888, she decided to make Around the World in 80 Days a reality. Departing from New Jersey, only 72 days later she returned, completing most of her journey alone. Bly held the record only for a few months, as her record was beaten by five days. 

Bly married a steel manufacturing company founder, and when he died in March of 1904, she took over the company. Taking a break from writing, Bly ran the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company until it went bankrupt. In her tenure, she patented multiple inventions including, the 55 gallon oil drum that is still in use today, and the stacking garbage can. The company went under after Bly prioritized the workers and their conditions and they took advantage of her, embezzling money from the company until there was nothing left. 

Returning to writing, Bly went to work for Hearst's New York Evening Journal, where she covered the women's suffrage movement. She was also the first woman and first reporter to see the Eastern Front of Serbia and Austria in WWI. 

Nellie Bly, legally known as Elizabeth Cochran Seaman, died Jan 27, 1922, doing what she was best at, writing. 

EOTO 2: William Lloyd Garrison

 The abolitionist movement took on different forms in their journey to emancipation. While maybe not as widely remembered as more violent methods, utilizing speech was also just as necessary to achieving their goal. William Lloyd Garrison was one of the leading voices in this form of abolition. Known for his anti-slavery newspaper The Liberator, Garrison spoke out vehemently against slavery.

Early Life

Born December 10, 1805, in Newburyport, Massachusetts to a sailor merchant father who deserted them when Garrison was only three. Garrison grew up in poverty, and was sent to live with a Baptist deacon until he was eight and struggled through apprenticeships with a shoemaker and cabinetmaker. At 13, he received an apprenticeship at the Newbury Herald as a writer and editor under editor Ephraim W. Allen. 

After working for the Herald for seven years, Garrison was able to gather enough money to buy The Newburyport Essex Courant, renaming it to the Newburyport Free Press. Although, that paper went out of business within six months of Garrison's purchase. In 1828, he became editor and journeyman printer at the National Philanthropist in Boston. Until, he accepted an editor's position at Benjamin Lundy's paper, the Genius of Emancipation, which began Garrison's journey in the abolition movement.

Abolitionist

Jan 1, 1831, Garrison published the first issue of his own abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. 

“I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation.… I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD,” said Garrison in his first issue.

The Liberator advocated for the immediate emancipation of slaves in the United States.  He was continually criticized for his writings, and was even tied and dragged through the streets of Boston with threats of lynchings for his writings and views. Garrison was a pacifist and advocated for non-violence against slavery. Instead, using morality and arguments about how much of a sin slavery was to slaveholders.

In 1832, he helped to establish the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and in 1833 he helped found the American Anti-Slavery Society. He wrote their Declaration of Sentiments and served as the society's first corresponding secretary. 

Garrison believed that the only way to end slavery was through moral persuasion, appealing to one's ethical principles to change their minds. This stance, along with beliefs that women should be involved with the American Anti-Slavery Society and the organization should not ally itself with a political party, created a rift in the organization. One sect broke off to create the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, that did not allow women. Another became the Liberty party, a group that was more politically inclined than what Garrison wanted. 

Garrison was also the person to 'discover' Frederick Douglass and help him spread the message of antislavery. In 1841, Garrison heard Frederick Douglass speak about his life, and was able to convince the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society to hire Douglass to tour with Garrison and tell his life story to others. Douglass stopped touring with Garrison when he began his own paper, The North Star, in 1847. 

But, in 1851, Douglass wrote that the Constitution could be used as a weapon to fight against slavery. This angered Garrison as he vehemently believed the Constitution was pro-slavery. He then attacked Douglass in his paper, causing the pair to go back and forth fighting each other through their papers, destroying their friendship. 

In the years leading up to the Civil War, Garrison became more radicalized and less influential. He used The Liberator to denounce events like the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Compromise of 1850, the Dred Scott decision, even burning a copy of the Constitution at a rally in 1854. But he praised John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry calling it "retribution" for slavery. 

Garrison supported President Lincoln and even overcame his pacifist beliefs to support the Civil War. Seeing it as a faster way to free slaves than what he had been doing. He completely supported the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, and ended The Liberator on Dec 29, 1865, once the war had ended. Garrison successfully published a new issue of the newspaper every week until its closing.

Impact

Garrison died on May 24, 1879, after getting to see his goal realized with the passing of the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery. Garrison was one of the leading voices in the country on abolition, and continued to fight after achieving that. He fought for the equality of African Americans and the women's suffrage movement. 

Why Journalism

 Journalism is a career that can demand a good deal of work each day for a reporter. It can require long nights, working weekends and even over holidays. But it's something I'm willing and ready to begin. 

I had always enjoyed writing in high school. Never finding it to be as much of a hassle as my friends and other students; however, I never thought to pursue it further than classroom assignments. Entering my first year at High Point University on a pre-medical track, the extent of my writing included lab reports and a few short answer test questions. 

After completing that year, I began to question if I really wanted to stay on a pre-medical track for almost another decade of schooling. I could not come up with a reason to justify the commitment I was about to make. When people would ask me "Why do you want to be a doctor" the reason I would give them was something they wanted to hear. I could not come up with a reason for me better than "I want to make a lot of money" and I do not think I could have been happy with myself later in my life if I continued on that reason alone. 

When I thought about what I wanted to be doing in about a decade, I kept coming back to being somewhere in the world of film and entertainment. I wanted to review films, cover award shows, interview directors and write about movies and Hollywood. 

Just before I left for sophomore year, my younger brother had his first day of class in high school, with my same sophomore english teacher. He told me how she recognized he was my brother and said she had high expectations for him based on how I did in her class, which I remember to be very focused on creative writing. I think that reminded me of how much I loved writing, especially about a topic I cared about. On my third day of sophomore year, I walked into the fourth floor of Smith Library and changed my major from exercise science to journalism, and I have never looked back.

Movie Reflection: They Won't Forget

 

They Won't Forget (1937) is a film that shows both the evils of vengeance, and the role of the press in society and the justice system. We see how the press can influence both the government and the public to believe whatever they write. In the case of this film, the press was able to convince the public of a man's guilt before a trial was held, and his "investigating" was used by the government to tailor their prosecution. 

It's Confederate Memorial Day in the southern town of Flodden, and a young girl is found dead at her business school. The town's district attorney, Andrew Griffin, who hopes to be governor or in the Senate, wants to convict her teacher, William Hale, although all the evidence against him is circumstantial. Enlisting the town's leading journalist, William Brock, Griffin and Brock work together to use his reporting to rile the public up in a craze of prejudice and hatred towards Hale before his trial even begins. The press sells a prejudice angle on the story, not and objective, truthful one, in order to get the conviction they want. Griffin forces witnesses to lie on the stand to make sure Hale is found guilty. When he is, and sentenced to death, the governor commutes his sentence to life in prison, but the townspeople, who have become enraged by this take matters into their own hands and kill Hale themselves. In the final scene of the film, Hale's wife confronts Griffin and Brock accusing them of twisting the investigation to fit their needs and wants, causing at least Brock to reflect on what they have done.

The journalist in the film, Brock, is given unrestricted access to Hale's home, able to take evidence from his house to use in his reporting without alerting the investigators. When it first breaks that a girl has been murdered, Brock is interviewing some of the girl's classmates outside of the building, with a mob of people around them. He judges Hale off of one quick interaction outside the building the girl was killed in, and because Hale is in a hurry and cannot stand around to answer questions, that makes him the prime suspect in Brock's eyes. Brock's reporting focuses on making Hale the only suspect, trying to get the public to hate him enough to force a conviction. During the trial, Brock gives updates each day on the events that happened in the courtroom, but with a large bias in the District Attorney’s favor. His reporting got the public so crazed that they attacked the train transporting Hale to prison and killed him because they believed what they had been told in the paper and on the radio each day of the trial.

EOTO 1: Something I learned

 Words are not the only option for people to comment and critique politicians, public figures or events. Political cartoons have been in use for centuries to do what words cannot. Using hyperbole, metaphor and irony, political cartoons provide commentary on politics, politicians and major events in history. 

The origin of the political cartoon dates back to about 1720, and the collapse of the South Sea Company. But the first truly political cartoon in the United States was Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” cartoon in The Pennsylvania Gazette, on May 9, 1754. This cartoon featured a snake that was cut into several pieces to symbolize the colonies and their need to come together in order to defeat the British and gain their independence. 

Some famous political cartoons in history include “Don’t Tread On Me”, “A Harlot’s Progress”, Rube Goldberg's Pulitzer Prize winning, “Peace Today” and “Abe Lincoln’s Last Card or Rouge-et-Noir.” All of these cartoons seek to show the importance and the true nature of those in power through satire, irony or metaphor.

These cartoons have been used throughout not only our country’s history, but others as well. In Canada, one of the more famous political cartoons is called “No Mercy to Captives Before Quebeck,” by Geroge Townshend in 1759. 

Political cartoons are also protected by the First Amendment as they are considered a form of speech, more specifically, they are political speech and parodies, which has the highest level of protection from the First Amendment. The American Association of Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC) is a professional association that seeks to protect and promote the interests of cartoonists at all levels of work. The organization was founded in 1957 by a group of cartoonists led by John Stampone. Today, they have over 200 members in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Today, R.J. Matson is one of the most known political cartoonists in recent years. He is responsible for cartoons in the Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump presidencies, and continues to illustrate cartoons today. 

Political cartoons are important to the conversation on different topics in our history. They are able to show us opinions on those issues, and how they really seem.

EOTO: Institutions and Publications

\ 

Before people got their news from social media, TV, or the radio, newspapers were the dominant means, with a majority being controlled by one man, William Randolph Hearst. His important publications included The San Francisco Examiner and the New York Journal. 

The San Francisco Examiner was founded in 1863, under the name the Democratic Press, and was a pro-Confederacy paper. The office building was destroyed on June 12, 1865, after a mob attacked the paper after Lincoln's assassination, and the paper was renamed to the Daily Examiner. William Randolph Hearst's father George Hearst, bought the paper in 1880 for political reasons, and later transferred ownership to his son William in 1887 at 23 years old.

Hearst hired writers, including Mark Twain, Jack London and Ambrose Bierce to help boost the paper's quality and its popularity. He also began to focus the paper more on sensationalized news and headlines, leading to the failing newspaper to begin to turn a profit within a few years of Hearst's leadership.

In 1895, Hearst turned his focus east, buying the unsuccessful New York Morning Journal for only $180,000, again hiring talented writers to help improve the paper’s quality. Hearst changed the name to the New York Journal, and again in 1902, with the morning paper named the New York American, and the evening edition the New York Evening Journal. Hearst remade the paper to be both entertaining and affordable for the working class in an effort to get more readership and undercut his competition. It was the first paper to successfully combine graphics and photographs with writing, and it became one of the most successful papers in New York, surpassing The New York Times. 

Hearst also poached writers and the cartoon artist Richard F. Outcault, the creator of the Yellow Kid cartoons, from his former mentor Joseph Pulitzer, who owned the New York World, which started a bitter rivalry between the two papers. The New York Morning Journal and the New York World both used sensationalized headlines and reporting to try and gather more readers, and along with rivaling Yellow Kid cartoons, this led to the term yellow journalism being used to describe this practice of reporting. 

The Yellow Kid cartoon

The practice of yellow journalism reached its peak in the early years of the 20th century. Hearst’s coverage of Cuba’s independence from Spain led to an increased public awareness of the topic and pressure on the US government to step in. Ultimately leading to the Spanish-American war. 

The two editions of the New York Journal continued to flourish in the early decades of the 20th century, but even Hearst could not shield his paper from the effects of the Great Depression. The paper outlasted its former rival the New York World, which closed down in 1931, but the morning edition was forced to shut down in 1937 and combined the staff into a single evening paper, the New York Journal-American. With the rise of new technologies and new ways of reporting, daily newspapers began to fade away, and the New York Journal-American continued to print until April 28, 1966, a decade after Hearst’s death.

However, the San Francisco Examiner is still in business today after being sold by the Hearst Corporation in 2004, and then being sold three more times finally under the ownership of Clint Riley Communications. 

By 1925, Hearst owned newspapers in every region of the United States, and at the height of his power in 1935, he owned 28 newspapers, 18 magazines and multiple radio stations, movie companies and news services. His life was the inspiration for Orson Welles’ first film, Citizen Kane (1941). Hearst died on August 14, 1951. The Hearst Corporation is still one of the biggest media conglomerates in the country, owning ESPN, Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and others.