Kenneth Wong Wong
1
Mr. Hackett
Section 001
SpanishÂAmerican War
Throughout the spanish american war and even before it began, until the end of the
spanishÂamerican war the newspaper had the power to heavily influence the choices people
made. It started with industrial revolution at the turn of the 19th century as the United States
became the number one leading manufacturer and foremost industrial power in the world, jobs
became harder to do and competition for their jobs grew. There were two people who controlled
the newspapers at the time, Joseph Pulitzer of New York World and William Randolph Hearst,
the editor of the New York Journal and they competed in the Newspaper business. Their
competition lead to yellow journalism, which is an exaggerated way of reporting news in order to
gain readership, profits, and influence. The conflict between spain and cuba for cuban
independence and yellow journalism grew during this period allowing the influence of
newspapers to once again grow.
The USS Maine, in havana harbor on February 15th, 1898 caused the SpanishÂAmerican
War. To protect American citizens, the USS Maine was sent to cuba to keep out the cuban
revolution or in order words, national security. When the explosion happened, the immediate
question for Americans was whether or not this was done by spain. Joseph Pulitzer, the editor of
the New York World published in February 17, 1898, a newspaper under the headlines "USS
Maine explosion caused by bomb or torpedo?" The question is asking attack or be attacked. The
paper implies that this is all perhaps spain's fault and we either need to attack now or be
eventually be attacked. This was false
Wong 2
actually, in 1976 the navy researchers concluded that the explosion was caused by an
underground mine. The competition for readership fueled up...