Modern Journalism, same as always.

Penny Press, Yellow Journalism, and Muckrakers.

The news that we receive today and the news Americans received in the 19th Century are not as different as one would think. Sure, we know have social media, youtube videos, and TV to receive up-to-date news but the overall forms of news haven't changed.
Three journalism forms that took a stand in early America were the Penny Press, Yellow Journalism, and Muckrakers.

Penny Press

The Penny Press were newspapers that became available to the middle and working class beginning in the 1830's. They were from 1 cent , so it was quite affordable for people of the two lower classes. People were eager to receive what they thought was raw news, but instead were filled with sensationalized columns that had more fib than truth. Journalists and owners of these newspapers focused on the idea of pleasing its audience and essentially giving them "what they wanted", does this sound familiar yet? Although this form of newspapers was giving out news it was not the type of news that Americans should have taken very seriously.

Yellow Journalism 

A similar form of journalism was Yellow Journalism. This type of journalism used HUGE headlines and sensationalized each column to draw more people to buy their newspapers. Yellow Journalism did use facts and research-based information, in fact most of their work had slim to little correlation with what the actual story was. The origins come from Joseph Pulitzer and Randolph Hearst's who both wanted to take over with the best press. They both were also known to show which political party they endorsed and why on the newspaper. Although not all of the news was fake most of it was unethical and full of inaccurate information.



Muckrakers

Muckrakers were journalist who's job was to expose corrupt leaders and established institutions. They were set on reforms and letting Americans know what was really going on behind closed doors. This style of journalism focused on cold-hard facts and research. Even though these journalists were ethical and truthful, people viewed them as scandalize, because as we see in today's age when someone writes about something that can be controversial it is considered "scandalize."




In Today's Age/ Differences

When I think of yellow journalism what comes to mind is tabloid-style magazines and articles. You often find these magazines by the cashier in grocery and retail stores. They promote propaganda for political figures and scandals of celebrites that aren't true. An example would be U.S Weekly, Globe, or Weekly World News. All of these magazines have big flashy headlines and pictures that make many people intrigued. A major difference between yellow journalism then and now, is that these political leaders and celebrities use social media to defame any fake news or scandals.

Muckraking is now known as investagative journalism or watchdog journalism. For me a muckraker is a whistleblower, like Julian Assange. They are out to expose everything that is corrupt in the system to open everyone's eyes. In return though, many people call it scandalize and even hate the thought of whistleblowers. A prime example of this is Julian Assange and the Wiki Leaks page, because Assange leaked a video of troops on their worst behavior, it caused many Americans to hate Julian Assange and now he's behind bars.

Yellow Journalism and Muckraking only have one thing in common and that's causing scandals. The difference is that one survives off of fake news and the other has factual sources to pack them up.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muckraker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_press
https://www.thoughtco.com/penny-press-definition-1773293
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism