Joseph Pulitzer was a Hungarian-born editor and publisher. He lived there until early adulthood. While there he was educated by private tutors and even learned to speak German and French. He wanted to go into the army in Europe but was not accepted in. He came to the United States in 1864 and joined the Union army as a soldier. This was during the time of the US Civil War between the Northern and Southern states. After the war was over, he worked as a waiter, taxi driver, caretaker of mules then finally becoming a newspaper reporter. During that time, he was nominated for state legislature by the Republican Party. He won and fought against graft and corruption.
In 1872, he bought the Saint Louis Post for 3000 dollars and sold a German paper for 20000 dollars. The profit helped him pay for law school and political activities. In these moments we can see that he developed his love for politics. He was also a very civic minded person. He showed a lot of concern for the public good and humanity. For examples, he crusaded against lotteries, gambling, and tax dodging. He also helped to have streets cleaned and repaired.
In 1883, he bought the New York World from Jay Gould, a businessman. This was the start of his owning his own business for journalism. He promised that his newspaper company would 'expose all the fraud and sham, fight all public evils and abuses' and "battle for the people with earnest sincerity." His stories were based on human-interest such as scandals, and sensational material. His newspaper supported the common people and exercised the role of the free press and defended it.
His style of journalism was coined "Yellow Journalism" because it was a sensationalized newspaper that grabbed the attention of many readers and so the number of newspapers sold each day greatly increased. His stories was exaggerated news in the form of comics and headlines. It included alarming headlines and news that were not necessarily true in order to scare the public. His rival was William Randolph Hearst the owner of the New York Journal who also adopted yellow journalism. It helped to sell a lot of newspapers.
Many people were critical of Pulitzer's newspaper especially his rivals. They did not like how he was using his papers to expose the truth. Pulitzer said, “The daily [newspaper] is like a mirror. It reflects that which is before it. Let those who are startled by it blame the people who are before the mirror, and not the mirror, which only reflects their features and actions.” In other words, the news is there to reflect reality and you ca not change the fact. It just gives you a chance to reflect what's happening around us.
His journalism style even became a concern for President Theodore Roosevelt. The President sued his for criminal libel because he thought Pulitzer was trying to damage his reputation of the government and his character. Pulitzer was only trying to expose how "the Panama Canal an act of colonial aggression and insisted that the government account for $40 million that went missing from the project." Pulitzer fought President Roosevelt all the way to the Supreme Court to because he did believe it was right for the President to use his authority to try to silence the press. The President has no right to tell people how free speech should be used; free speech is free speech despite the situation.
Pulitzer's sensationalist journalism has inspired a lot of journalists today. It emphasis the importance of free speech and social justice. Therefore, many of the problems we see concerning the press today has always been there since the very beginning of times. People are still critical of this journalism style today.
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In 1872, he bought the Saint Louis Post for 3000 dollars and sold a German paper for 20000 dollars. The profit helped him pay for law school and political activities. In these moments we can see that he developed his love for politics. He was also a very civic minded person. He showed a lot of concern for the public good and humanity. For examples, he crusaded against lotteries, gambling, and tax dodging. He also helped to have streets cleaned and repaired.
In 1883, he bought the New York World from Jay Gould, a businessman. This was the start of his owning his own business for journalism. He promised that his newspaper company would 'expose all the fraud and sham, fight all public evils and abuses' and "battle for the people with earnest sincerity." His stories were based on human-interest such as scandals, and sensational material. His newspaper supported the common people and exercised the role of the free press and defended it.
His style of journalism was coined "Yellow Journalism" because it was a sensationalized newspaper that grabbed the attention of many readers and so the number of newspapers sold each day greatly increased. His stories was exaggerated news in the form of comics and headlines. It included alarming headlines and news that were not necessarily true in order to scare the public. His rival was William Randolph Hearst the owner of the New York Journal who also adopted yellow journalism. It helped to sell a lot of newspapers.
Many people were critical of Pulitzer's newspaper especially his rivals. They did not like how he was using his papers to expose the truth. Pulitzer said, “The daily [newspaper] is like a mirror. It reflects that which is before it. Let those who are startled by it blame the people who are before the mirror, and not the mirror, which only reflects their features and actions.” In other words, the news is there to reflect reality and you ca not change the fact. It just gives you a chance to reflect what's happening around us.
His journalism style even became a concern for President Theodore Roosevelt. The President sued his for criminal libel because he thought Pulitzer was trying to damage his reputation of the government and his character. Pulitzer was only trying to expose how "the Panama Canal an act of colonial aggression and insisted that the government account for $40 million that went missing from the project." Pulitzer fought President Roosevelt all the way to the Supreme Court to because he did believe it was right for the President to use his authority to try to silence the press. The President has no right to tell people how free speech should be used; free speech is free speech despite the situation.
Pulitzer's sensationalist journalism has inspired a lot of journalists today. It emphasis the importance of free speech and social justice. Therefore, many of the problems we see concerning the press today has always been there since the very beginning of times. People are still critical of this journalism style today.
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