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The term typically refers to Sensationalism in news reporting that bears only a superficial resemblance to the profession of journalism. The term " Infotainment " was coined to refer to News Programming that blends journalism and entertainment in a way which, critics argue, diminishes the News Value and professionalism of the reporting. The phrase " Media Bias " is a related term which is used in political rhetoric to assert a broad political bias within news media organizations. Its common usage derives from news media Talk Shows where an organization's functionaries and personalities tend to direct discussion away from issues in professional journalism to issues in politics. MEANING The term, as it commonly applies, refers to news organizations for whom Sensationalism , Profiteering , and in some cases Propaganda and Jingoism , take dominance over factual reporting. Most cases tend to be related to Journalistic Bias , and the endemic practices of particular organizations to operate as mouthpieces, for rather limited and particular allegiances, rather than for the Public Trust . Recent accusations of yellow journalism center around media Infotainment and Corporate Media , referring to organizations where business interests supersede the interests of news organizations to accurately report damaging facts about influential corporations and common practices within corporate industry. In certain cases, the links between political, business, and media worlds, are alleged to violate various laws ranging from Fraud to Antitrust . In the modern context of near-instant television news coverage, a perceived careless lack of fact-checking for the sake of a Breaking News story might be referred to as ''yellow journalism.'' Aspects of yellow journalism can vary at the minimum from the sporadic use of unnecessarily colorful Adjective s, up to a systematic tendency to report falsehoods as fact. (See also Talking Points Memo .) CURRENCY The term has largely fallen into disuse as the media world has grown both in scope and in complexity. Further, because most media outlets have cultural allegiances or business practices that to one degree or other force them to deviate from idealized concepts of reporting, accusations of "yellow journalism" tend to be few. Print journalists have tended toward building a career Reputation of consistent and thorough professionalism, to gain respect and prominence. News Anchors , for example, may be chosen not for their skills at journalism, but rather for their presentation, appearance, and personality. A current perceived rift is therefore more akin to a segmentation according to definitions of "news." The public still attaches to "news" the " organizations draw general audiences, who tend to fall into Market Demographics that each favor particular blends of issues-based entertainment along with their "news." Reputation and ethics do not necessarily coincide at all times. Well-established institutions such as the '' New York Times '' can be at fault. Many journalists find conflicts between their employment and their professionalism as journalists. THE YELLOW PRESS The sensationalized human-interest stories of the yellow press increased circulation and readership heavily throughout the 19th century, especially in the United States . Early practitioners, such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst , seem to have equated the sensational reporting of murders, gory accidents, and the like, with the need of the democratic common man to be entertained by subjects beyond dry politics. Two early yellow newspapers were Pulitzer's '' New York World '' and Hearst's '' New York Journal American .'. The term derived from the color Comic Strip character '' The Yellow Kid '', who appeared in both these papers. (See also Symbolism Of Yellow .) Hearst While most early newspapers tended toward expressing a viewpoint, the prototypical example of yellow journalism was the late 19th century Hearst Newspapers ' consistent emphasis on episodes showing a humanitarian crisis among Cubans at the hands of Spanish troops. The Spanish denied the crisis and said Hearst was lying. The stories, combining both a sense of urgency and moral outrage, and Hearst directed his one newspaper, the New York ''Journal.'' Having contributed to rallying public support for the cause for war, Hearst tried to influence the political vote as well. Along with the Destruction Of The USS Maine , this reporting sparked a public outcry that led to the US to start the Spanish-American War . James Creelman praised the work of the reporters for exposing the horrors of Spanish misrule, arguing, " no true history of the war . . . can be written without an acknowledgment that whatever of justice and freedom and progress was accomplished by the Spanish-American war was due to the enterprise and tenacity of ''yellow journalists,'' many of whom lie in unremembered graves." & Startt 191 Journalism historians have noted that in 1898 yellow journalism was largely confined to New York City, and that newspapers in the rest of the country did not follow their lead. The key Yellow newspapers, the New York ''Journal'' and the ''World,'' were not among the top ten sources of news in regional papers. The stories simply did not make a splash outside Gotham. & Startt 191 Americans would soon find themselves invading, occupying, and taking over control of both Cuba and the Philippines from Spain, and Hearst found himself more influential--but he lost much of his personal prestige when one of his columnists, Ambrose Bierce recommended the assassination of President McKinley seven months before he was indeed assassinated. IN FICTION In many Movie s, Sitcom s and other works of Fiction , reporters often use yellow journalism against the main character, which typically works to set up the reporter character as an Antagonist . Likewise, in the 1997 James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies , an evil media magnate tries to start a war between Great Britain and China via sensationalized news stories; in the movie, the villain even alludes to Hearst's role in the Spanish-American War. In Thomas Harris's novel '' Red Dragon ,'' from the Hannibal Lecter series, a sleazy yellow journalist named Freddy Lounds, who writes for the ''National Tattler'' tabloid, is tortured and set aflame for penning a negative article about serial killer Francis Dolarhyde. The book was adapted into a movie in 1986 as '' Manhunter ,'' in which Stephen Lang plays Lounds and Tom Noonan portrays Dolarhyde and again in 2002 , in which Philip Seymour Hoffman portrays Lounds and Ralph Fiennes plays Dolarhyde. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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