Yellow Journalism

Yellow Journalism was essentially a form of journalism who's only purpose was to entertain the reader with things that were subjectively titillating. Yellow journalists did their best to dig up scandal, and when they did find something they blew it way out of proportion and exaggerated it. If they didn't find anything interesting enough to report, they weren't above practically making things up. They were often sensationalists.
This week our teacher Mr. Miller showed us the basic timeline of print journalism's history. He began with 3500 BCE, when the first printing press system was recorded. A major point on the timeline was in 1450 CE when Gutenberg created the first metal, movable type press that revolutionized the previous method of printing created by Bi Sheng in 1040 CE. Gutenberg's press created the first opportunity for mass communication, which was utilized to spread the Bible. We continued to learn about the important milestones in print journalism. Finally we arrived at the subject of yellow journalism, which was popularized during the penny press era. I chose this as my topic for this blog post because I think that this form of journalism is not dead, and is very much alive and well today.
The largest example of yellow journalism I can think of today are tabloids. They dig up dirt on celebrities and exaggerate it, often beyond anything that could reasonably be true. Or, they warn people of things that could cause them to gain weight or of things that could be harmful, regardless of the truth because they know people will want to read it. It is sensationalism.
The principle of yellow journalism could, I think, be very directly tied to certain TV. Stations such as ''E!" and "Oxygen" that focus only on gossip fit under the definition of yellow journalism very well. I think this comparison between yellow journalism from the 1800's to current mass media is important to understand because it demonstrates how very populist current media (especially TV) is becoming.