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Did Yellow Journalism cause The Spanish –American War?
The Spanish-American War was a brief conflict between Spain and America occurring in April through July of 1898. This war was credited to the cessation of Spain’s worldwide imperium and the gain of several incipient territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific for the U.S. Although the subject offers many varying opinions of many historians, this war was a conflict that was “a newspaper-made war,” brought on by sensational and irresponsible yellow journalism.
William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer are historically kenned for being the first to utilize yellow journalism in their newspapers on a sizably voluminous scale. Some historians claim that Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst did not commence the Spanish-American War but aggravated it (Hearst, 1999). On the other hand, many historians have claimed that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst did commence the Spanish-American War through their newspaper's utilization of yellow journalism (Simmons, 2003). Yellow journalism contributed to the Spanish-American War by causing diplomacy between the US and Spain to fail and making people vexed with Spain. “Hearst, being the new kid on the American media block, did everything in his power to force a war to drive newspaper sales. Seib argues that eventually, because the tide of public opinion had so drastically shifted toward intervention due to the sensational stories of Hearst and his competitors, President McKinley was forced to give the American public the war they demanded (William Randolph Hearst, Yellow Journalism, & the Spanish-American War: Two Perspectives for the Classroom, unknown).”
Also stated in U.S. Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism in 1895 “The rise of yellow journ...

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...ed and poorly understood. Thus, due to the misunderstood information and clear aggrandizements the Spanish-American war resulted, all due to the irresponsible yellow journalism (American Correspondents Cover the Spanish-American War, 1878).
In summation, yellow journalism made tranquil diplomacy infeasible and caused the Spanish-American War. The articles published infuriated the public to such a degree that war was called against Spain. Yellow journalism ceased the diplomatic solution of Cuba's quandaries with Spain and made the American public call for war. In these ways, yellow journalism was a major contributor to the Spanish-American War. This interpretation has proved irresistible over the years. Therefore, it very orderly identifies the supposed inceptions of the war while offering a compelling example of the malignant potential of unchecked media potency.

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