Yellow Journalism is a term that describes the use of sensationalism in newspapers and magazines to increase readership and advertising. In American history, Yellow Journalism reached its peak in the 1890s. At that time, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were editors of newspapers in New York City that were competing with each other for circulation. In an effort to increase sales, both editors encouraged their writers to exaggerate or even to falsify stories in order to attract readers and to sell newspapers.
In American history, this was not the only time that Yellow Journalism has been used. Yellow Journalism can be thought of as any activity that deliberately undermines the accuracy and integrity of information published in newspapers or magazines when the decision to weaken journalistic standards is linked to the goal of increasing readership or supporting a specific social or political agenda.
I was not aware that Yellow Journalism has been practiced in America continuously since the 1890s. There have been periods such as during the wars in which America has fought that decisions were made by and among journalists and the government that certain information would or would not be published in the interest of morale or propaganda. In other words, Yellow Journalism sometimes has been used to support a specific political agenda.
Social Darwinism suggests that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection can be applied to the development of biological adaptations as as as to social adaptation in human society. Social Darwinism can be likened to survival of the fittest applied to the economic concepts associated with capitalism. Social Darwinism involves a belief that in society the strongest, brightest, fittest or most quick-witted individuals survive and thrive while less gifted individuals will always be found lower on an economic and social evolutionary ladder. Taken to a logical
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