Yellow journalism is exaggerated or biased writing that is disguised as fact. It involves taking a factual story and writing it in a sensational or distorted way. It may be used to invoke fear, loathing, uncertainty, or even sympathy in readers.

The beginning of yellow journalism is attributed to William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. The industrial revolution brought about a printing press that could create thousands of copies of a newspaper overnight. In 1895, Pulitzer's paper, New York World, was the top paper in New York City and the surrounding area. Then Hearst bought the New York Journal, and quickly became Pulitzer's main competition.

The term yellow journalism came from a fight between the two papers over a cartoonist, who created a strip called the "Yellow Man." The comic strip used a special no-smudge yellow ink. Hearst took the cartoonist away from Pulitzer to create the comic strip in his paper. Pulitzer then hired a second cartoonist to duplicate the work of the first. This competition between the two papers quickly spiraled out of control.

Soon, the papers were in a war over who could sell the most copies. To achieve this goal, the papers started using sensationalism; altering the facts and writing outrageous headlines to attract sales. This bid for sales came to a head during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Pulitzer and Hearst both had a huge role in how the American public viewed Cuba in its bid for independence from Spain. The papers emphasized the wrong-doings of the Spanish army, but breezed over any faults of the Cuban troops. Both papers, however, called for United States intervention, leading to the United States' involvement in the war.

Yellow journalism has been used in every war the US has been involved in since then, portraying the opposite side as evil, subhuman, or similarly worth attacking. It has been used for political and social gain. The use of yellow journalism has mostly moved past the greed of newspaper owners, and is now used mostly to alter public opinion.

Although yellow journalism is much less common now than it was in the early 1900s, it still exists. Some newspapers, magazines, internet sites, and even television news channels may present information with a spin on the facts to support their own views or to increase their number of readers or viewers. Shocking headlines still sell more papers than regular ones do. The best way to avoid the effect of yellow journalism is to check facts with several sources, and don't get all of your news from one place. Consider where the news is coming from, and any biases the source may have. By getting news from more than one venue, it is possible to see yellow journalism for what it is, and keep an open, and unbiased, mind when searching for the facts.