# Why is Yellow Journalism, Yellow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457 "2002-04-19T03:03:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/1 "2002-04-19T03:03:47Z")
Is yellow journalism to imply that the journalists are cowardly (yellow is associated with cowards, but I don’t know why) for printing lies, but hiding behind the freedom of the press??? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/2 "2002-04-19T03:10:58Z")
I believe it was called that because of the old comic strip, “The Yellow Kid”. Why it was named after the comic strip, I don’t remember. I’ll see if I can find any sources to back me up… ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/3 "2002-04-19T03:18:53Z")
According to [this site](http://www.neponset.com/yellowkid/history.htm), The Yellow Kid was the first widely popular newspaper comic strip, and it became the focus of a battle between New York’s two main papers, Hearst’s New York Journal, and Pulitzer’s World. Eventually, there were Yellow Kid comics in both newspapers (the originial one was by R.F. Outcault). The newspapers were called “The Yellow Kid Papers”, later “The Yellow Papers”, and because of both of the newspapers habits of just making up news, this practice began to be called “Yellow Journalism”. ---
**Author:** ![the\_duke\_69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@the\_duke\_69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_duke_69)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/4 "2002-04-19T04:44:05Z")
It was the color of the ink not the tittle. The color represented something to atracked all atention of the readers. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/5 "2002-04-19T07:12:23Z")
I don’t know if this is accurate, but my Journalism teacher claimed that it was because newspapers that practiced yellow journalism were often printed on cheap, thus yellow, paper. Yellow journalism traditionally refers to using sensationalistic headlines and stories to attract readership, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/6 "2002-04-19T11:44:14Z")
The reason goes back to _Yellow Kid_ but sort of indirectly. Until the introduction of comics into the newspaper, journalists (especially, I imagine publishers) saw their profession as a “calling” above such things as entertainment and sensationalism. But with the introduction of the _Yellow Kid_ (first by Pulitzer, I believe at the _World_ although the artist Richard Outcault was soon hired away by Hearst at the _Examiner_) also came large headlines, stories that pandered to a “lower” class of readers, photographs and the like. The easiest negative thing to hang on it was “Yellow” because that color also carried with it the implication of the “yellow peril” of rasist fame and as was mentioned cowardice. From Emery and Emery’s _The Press and America_: > [@](#): > > **Circulation men for both papers used posters featuring the happy-go-lucky grinning kid with his curiously vacant features. To opposition journalist the “Yellow Kid” seemed symbolic of the kind of sensational journalism that was being practiced, and the public agreed. The phrase “yellow journalism” soon became widely used and its techniques the object of hard scrutiny.** In complete truth the original name of the comic in question was “Hogan’s Alley” but: > [@](#): > > \*\*The central figure in each drawing was a toothless, grinning kid attired in a ballooning dress. When the _World’s_ printers daubed a blob of yellow on the dress, he became the immortal “Yellow Kid.” \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Sgt.J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sgt.J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sgt.J)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/7 "2002-04-19T15:16:04Z")
My Journalism teacher told our class the same as **FDISK**. Of all places to pass along inaccurate information… ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/8 "2002-04-19T22:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sgt. J \* > \*\*My Journalism teacher told our class the same as **FDISK**. Of all places to pass along inaccurate information… \*\* With all due respect to high school journalism teachers (and truly as a newspaperman, I have tons of it because they have started more great journalists on their way than any 50 good j-schools), they have seldom taken a course in the history of the profession. Generally they get stuck with teaching high school journalism because they happened to have taken a newswriting course in college (to teach journalism in most states, it requires only three semester hours in journalism and often that can be waived if they have specific hours in English or even business). To gain more knowledge in the subject, often high school teachers will take journalism-related courses in the summers, but a history of journalism course is seldom offered and probably if it were, they would see a greater need for something that would come up more often in their day-to-day work, like photography, desk-top publishing, libel laws or lay-out trends. So **Sgt. J** don’t hold it against him or her, at least you got an answer. ---
**Author:** ![cleops](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@cleops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cleops)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/9 "2002-04-20T04:03:04Z")
I also read somewhere that, as duke 69 alluded, the term, besides being connected to the “Yellow Kid,” was also connected to the fact that the printers had come up with the right goo to print yellow on newsprint without it running or smudging . ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/10 "2002-04-20T14:54:44Z")
From John Bremner’s _Words on Words_, a highly respected newspaper source book: > [@](#): > > **_YELLOW JOURNALISM_ - The color of journalism at its worst derived from a comic strip printed in yellow, “The Yellow Kid,” in the ultrasensational _New York World_ of the 1890s. Some ultrasensitive activists now consider the term racist, but yellow journalism knows no ethnic bounds.** And from the _UPI Stylebook_: > [@](#): > > **_yellow journalism_ - The use of cheaply sensational methods to attract or influence readers. The term comes from the use of yellow ink in printing the “Yellow Kid,” a comic strip, in the _New York World_ in 1895.** I found these sources (plus the Emery and Emery history of journalism cited above) lying around the house. Probably if I go to the office I can find some more. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/11 "2002-04-20T16:01:55Z")
It was a combination of factors. It took awhile to develop a good yellow for newspapers. Around the time, R. F. Outcault started a comic strip for Pulitzer’s _New York World_ called “At the Circus at Hogan’s Alley,” which included a jug-eared boy with a blue nightshirt. In a few months, the boy became bald and the shirt became yellow. The official name of the strip was “Hogan’s Alley,” but the public referred to it as “The Yellow Kid.” After a year, Outcault was hired by Hearst’s _New York Journal_ and continued the strip there. The strip was renamed “The Yellow Kid.” The _World_ hired George B. Luks to continue “Hogan’s Alley.” There was a lawsuit over the rights with the result that Outcault kept the right to draw the characters, but not to the “Hogan’s Alley” name. The “better people” of New York felt “The Yellow Kid” – in both incarnations – was just too vulgar, and began to refer to the _World_ and _Journal_ as “yellow journalism.” This from Horn’s _World Encyclopedia of Comics_. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2002, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/12 "2002-04-20T23:49:11Z")
Here’s the Straight Dope. > [@](#): > > There was a lawsuit over the rights with the result that Outcault kept the right to draw the characters, but not to the “Hogan’s Alley” name. There is no record of such a lawsuit. It is just a repeated mistake. There is also no evidence of yellow paper. The ink/yellow connection is rather speculative. And doubtful in my mind. The first appearance of the term **yellow journalism** was in an editorial written by Ervin Wardman in _The New York Press_ in January, 1897. In this editorial(which I have not read firsthand), Mr. Wardman excoriated both the \* World\* and the _Journal_ as being sensationalist. He did not explain **why** he used the term or what it meant. Because the _Yellow Kid_ was such a phenomenon in the 2 years prior to this editorial, Mr. Wardman may have been indeed referring to the two most prominent examples of the day as “yellow” in reference to the Yellow Kid. I respectfully offer an alternative theory. The term “yellow” in reference to newspapers and novels/books goes back in print to the 1840’s. It meant **sensational** and referred to writers who’s works were bound in **yellow** covers. I can offer numerous examples of this starting in 1846. I simply think that Mr. Wardman was editorializing about two newspapers which were trying to _out-sensationalize_ each other. As a literate person, he might simply have used an older term for such sensationalism. But, again, he could have been referring to the _Yellow Kid_ controversy. We’ll probably never know. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-yellow-journalism-yellow/104457/13 "2002-04-21T00:26:18Z")
A search on Wardman led [to this site that discussed](http://academic2.american.edu/~wjc/introyjourn.html) aspects of “yellow journalism.” It seems that the term was used against the newer newspapers that were noted for excessive self-promotion, a cutting-edge use of type (compared to the grey pages of the more conservative newspapers, the World positively screamed), and most important, a series of investigative scoops against the powers that ruled New York. In other words, “yellow journalism” was used to castigate newspapers that were perceived as being too big for their britches, especially for remaking themselves into something that people might want to read. Anyway, that’s what the paper on the site claims.