Yellow Journalism and the Sensationalist “Sob Sisters”

A motivating force behind the Spanish-American War was the battle for publishing supremacy between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst: papers in both syndicates printed “news” that encouraged the war. In other areas, too, their competition resulted in the proliferation of a new style of reporting, dubbed “yellow,” or sensationalist, journalism. These newspapers appealed to a wider national readership, particularly targeting millions of barely literate working-class people.

Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst are dressed as the “Yellow Kids,” representing Yellow Journalism. The two men are pushing against opposite sides of a pillar of wooden blocks that spell WAR. Many historians believe that the two exaggerated the need for the conflict, which cost Spain the last of its colonies. Printed June 29, 1898. Library of Congress LC-USZC4-3800

 

January 18, 1913 photograph of Winifred Sweet Black, a.k.a. Annie Laurie, who wrote sensationalist stories for both Hearst’s San Francisco Examiner and Pulitzer’s New York Journal. Said to be the first woman to cover a prizefight, she was especially known for reports on Mormon polygamists for the Denver Post. After an 1897 divorce from Orlow Black, she took the name of her second husband and was sometimes known as Winfred Bonfils. Library of Congress LC-USZ62-73770

And they hired women. Both Hearst and Pulitzer understood that many new readers of their penny papers were young female factory workers or domestic servants, and the two publishing magnates hired women who could speak to these women. Nellie Bly was the most notable, but other female yellow journalists included Ada Patterson, “the Nellie Bly of the West,” and Winifred Black, whose pseudonym was “Annie Laurie.” Both were well-known figures in investigative journalism. Pulitzer also hired former Confederate first lady Varina Howell Davis in 1890. She wrote a weekly column because she needed income: Jefferson Davis had long lived with another woman.

News and opinion columns by women were not new, but the personal-advice column rose to be a popular feature of the new style of newspapers. The most famous of these was akin to Varina Howell Davis in that she was an elite Southern lady who suddenly found herself poor.

Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer began “Dorothy Dix Talks” in 1895 when her neighbor, who owned New Orleans Daily Picayune, hired her because she needed income to support her mentally ill husband.

Dorothy Dix soon became her persona, as the column proved extremely popular. She continued it while setting another journalistic precedent by joining the Hearst syndicate in 1901 as a crime reporter, earning the uncommonly high salary of $5,000. It was her innovation of the advice column, however, that made Dorothy Dix a household name. She wrote hers for more than a half-century, and at its height, it was read by some 30 million people on three continents. In addition to making her wealthy, the column had a profound influence on social mores.

As the century ended, the 1900 census showed that of the 30,098 journalists in the United States , 2,193 were women. Although many continued to write for society pages, advice columns, and fashion spreads, “yellow journalism” broadened opportunities for newswomen. Male reporters nicknamed such female writers “Sob Sisters” for allegedly bringing readers to tears with their vivid and emotional articles. The “Sob Sisters” moniker indeed was denigrating to serious professional reporters -- but the women who led the sensationalist movement earned both good money and credibility with readers who demanded reporting that was both entertaining and more relevant to ordinary people.

“Sunday Salad” column by Dorothy Dix, a.k.a. Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer. Library of Congress (Thomson Gale online catalog)