Fake News in the 1890s: Yellow Journalism (Remixed)
https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/fake-news-in-the-1890s-yellow-journalism
Classroom activities (from website)
- Ask students to conduct a classroom debate about whether yellow journalism should be illegal. Students should use the sources in this set, as well as additional evidence to support their claim. Students should consider questions such as how yellow journalism and fake news threaten freedom of the press and whether limiting free press threatens democracy in America when constructing their arguments.
- Ask students to design a political cartoon or write a news article depicting a past or current event using the characteristics of yellow journalism including sensationalism, embellishment, and hyperbole
Additional activities (for remix)
- Ask students to use a fact checker website (Snopes, FactCheck, Politifact) to research a few memes and shared "news" found on Social Media. Ask them to compare and contrast from modern day fake news to 1800s yellow journalism.