Alternative facts, fake news, and post-truth have become common terms in the contemporary news industry. Today, social media platforms allow sensational news to “go viral,” crowdsourced news from ordinary people to compete with professional reporting, and public figures in offices as high as the US presidency to bypass established media outlets when sharing news. However, dramatic reporting in daily news coverage predates the smartphone and tablet by over a century. In the late nineteenth century, the news media war between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal resulted in the rise of yellow journalism, as each newspaper used sensationalism and manipulated facts to increase sales and attract readers.

This is a remix of a previous source. The link to original source is https://goopenva.org/courses/fake-news-in-the-1890s-yellow-journalism

The original author is Melissa Jacobs

Melissa Jacobs, (2018) Fake News in the 1890s: Yellow Journalism. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/fake-news-in-the-1890s-yellow-journalism/additional-resources#tabs

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy. 

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy.   

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy. 

This is part of a series of lessons commissioned by the Democracy Project at the University of Virginia centered around the podcast Democracy in Danger.Democracy in Danger  lessons share some basic characteristics.   In each of these inquiries, the explicit or implicit question is, “What should we do about .. “ because that is an essential question we must ask of all of our citizens.   Additionally,  Democracy in Danger lessons  will lead students through a problem analysis characterized by the 4A approach (assses the problem, analyze the causes and effects of the problem, address  potential solutions to the problem, act on a potential solution.   We hope to make this type of problem analysis process a routine that young people can transfer to any new challenge that we face in our democracy and that it will pave the way for healthy deliberation with their fellow students, to collaboratively act together, and to forge healthy civic friendships that will strengthen our democracy.