Yellow Journalism 101 - The New Yorker Magazine

July 14th, 2008
By TONY CAMPBELL, TMV Columnist

Wow! I thought we were in the 21st Century. Obviously, the tabloid escapades of the early 20th century have not totally lost their place in American journalism. The cover art of The New Yorker (July 21st edition) is a characterization of the rumors surrounding the Islamic ties of Senator Barack Obama that have been circulating around the internet for over a year. The difference, of course, is that e-mail chains and bloggers do not have the readership or the journalistic history of this publication.

This satirical cover art is an example of Yellow Journalism. For those of you who skipped your American government undergraduate course, Yellow Journalism is defined as sensationalized reporting that lowers journalistic standards in order to increase readership. Clearly, the cover art is meant to increase interest in readership, the question is what kind of long term impact this may have on the presidential race.

Will The New Yorker publish a similar cartoon of John McCain as an irate “Father Time” with his wife popping pills in the background? If not, then it may be proved that the intent of publishing of this cartoon was malicious. Then, Obama can file a libel suit against The New Yorker similar to the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case of 1964 where the Supreme Court decided that a public official would have to prove actual malice in the publishing of misleading reporting.

Unfortunately, there will be a backlash because of this cover. There will be people who will say to me, “See, I told you Obama was a Muslim and he will destroy the country.” Even if The New Yorker did intend to show how far-fetched it would be for a sitting United States Senator to be in league with terrorists; the response of those it is trying to enlighten will be eclipsed by the visual on the cover.

Welcome to the world of Yellow Journalism 2008…where a picture is worth a thousand words and Americans do not bother to read more than ten of them.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under MSM, At TMV, Journalism, Newsweek Blogitics, Demonization, Columnists, Urban Legends Hoaxes and Rumors, Cartoon Commentary, Media Criticism, Barack Obama, Media, John McCain, Political Cartoons. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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DAMOZEL 3 months ago 1 point
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I admit that my first thought was, 'Hey! That's a clever satire on the crazy rumors about Obama and a sardonic rebuff to those who believe them!'

But now that you've made me think about it again, I can see how it might backfire.

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JSpencer 3 months ago 1 point
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I believe you nailed it Tony. I wonder if they even teach kids what yellow journalism is anymore? I remember learning about it in high school - presumably because it was considered important for young people to be armed with a little critical thinking ability. Obviously that (along with many other history lessons) has declined in popularity during the intervening years.

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DLS 3 months ago 1 point
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The reaction to this cover is stupid. This is not yellow journalism, but satire. I guess the New Yorker mistakenly had too high an opinion of its readers' level of sophistication and even IQ. That's the suspicion raised by the callers on the lefty talk shows I heard today and the bellowing, mindless host of one show in particular.

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JSpencer 3 months ago 1 point
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DLS, your fondness for characterizing people you disagree with as "stupid", "childish", "low-class", having low IQs, etc. has become predictable in a rather sophomoric way. Also it tends to undermine the occasional interesting things you have to say. Is the intent to be seen as a cynical, polarizing figure, or are you just acting out? I guess the latter.

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