The yellow press

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The yellow press. Illustration shows William Randolph Hearst as a jester tossing newspapers with headlines such as "Appeals to Passion, Venom, Sensationalism, Attacks on Honest Officials, Strife, Distorted News, Personal Grievance, and Misrepresentation" to a crowd of eager readers, among them an anarchist assassinating a politician speaking from a platform draped with American flags; on the left, men labeled "Man who buys the comic supplement for the kids, Businessman, Gullible Reformer, Advertiser, and Decent Citizen" carry bags of money that they dump into Hearst's printing press. Includes note: "The time is at hand when these journalistic scoundrels have got to stop or get out, and I am ready now to do my share to that end. They are absolutely without souls. If decent people would refuse to look at such newspapers the whole thing would right itself at once. The journalism of New York City has been dragged to the lowest depths of degradation. The grossest railleries and libels, instead of honest statements and fair discussion, have gone unchecked." – From Mayor Gaynor's letter published in the New York Evening Post. Date 1910 October 12.

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