After a grislyax murder at a brothel,
Bennett ran an interview with the
madam that is widely believed to have
been concocted by the brash editor.
While others may have invented
sensationalism, Hearst and Pulitzer
perfected it; their craft became known
as yellow journalism, which got its name
from a comic strip character called the
Yellow Kid (upper left). The history of
the cartoon, and the roundabout w
it gave a name to hype
reporting at the end of
century, says somethi
forces at work on jour
In those days cities
a large number of daili
all vying for attention.
their search for reade
publishers took carto
in a new direction with
the comic strip. One o
the most famous, whi
appeared in Joseph Pu
World,was “Hogan’s
Cartoonist Richard Ou
leading character was
with jug ears and a too
and dressed in a yell
Confronted by this po
competitor, Hearst us
one of his favorite tactics to undercut
Pulitzer. He hired away Outcault.
Pulitzer responded by assigning another
cartoonist to draw the Kid, who now
appeared in both papers.
How the Yellow Kid lent his name to
sensational journalism grew out of one
of Hearst’s news gimmicks—the “Yellow
Fellow Transcontinental Bicycle Relay.”
Hearst had not yet acquired Outcault’s
talents for his newspaper, but
ave been trying to
h in on Outcault’s
c creation anyway.
maybe he simply liked
color. In any event,
rider who left San
cisco was clad entirely
low. Hearst’s objective
set a new coast-to-
d record for mounted
sive of the Yellow
and their newsmaking,
eNew York Press
lled Hearst’s style
lism.” The term stuck.
rst-Pulitzer competition
ading up to and during
the Spanish-
American War
shows, the twomen had no shame in the stunts they
would pull. But as often happens with
those who become wealthy by reckless
schemes, a new urge develops out of
success: a desire for respectability. The
Hearst media empire remains, albeit
in respectable form in keeping with its
magnificent 46-floor headquarters on
57th Street in New York. Pulitzer’s empire
is gone, but his grand legacy is found in
the journalism school he helped found at
Columbia University and the esteemed
Pulitzer Prizes given out to exemplary
journalism each year.w ..ssstttt. ss
llllll st
HEARST WITH HIS CAMERA
DURING THE 1898 SPANISH-
AMERICAN WARWILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST (^) JOSEPH PULITZER
PULITZER, DEPICTED AS PINOCCHIO, INTERRUPTS PRESIDENT
MCKINLEY IN HIS OFFICE IN THIS 1898 CARTOON.
TT NEWS AGENCY/ALBUM
ULLSTEIN BILD/GETTY IMAGES ALAMY/ACI
PHOTO 12/ALAMY/ACI