Sensational News - The Rise of Lurid Journalism in America, 1830-1930

Sensationalistic stories have attracted readers for as long as reading has been a popular form of entertainment. Readers have been frightened, revolted, yet fascinated by stories of death, thievery, kidnapping, murder, rape, scandal, love triangles, and colorful miscreants. Starting in the 1830s this morbid interest in lurid stories fueled the unprecedented growth of sensationalist newspapers that titillated and shocked their many readers.
This study of sensationalism describes how newspapers added lurid details to their coverage of news events in an effort to attract as many readers as they could. Employing hyperbole and exaggerated details, they meant to grab the attention of the reader and keep him or her reading. For the next hundred years this form of journalism continued, later spilling over into radio and television news. Along the way, the "yellow journalism" wars of the 1880s and 1890s produced bold headlines, eye-catching illustrations, exaggeration of news events, and even false quotes and misleading information. Sensational reporting continued with muckraking reporting in the early 1900s as journalistic crusaders worked to expose municipal corruption, corporate greed, and misconduct in American business.

List of contents

Table of Contents

Preface

¿1.¿Fear, Thrills and Titillation

¿2.¿New York, New York

¿3.¿The Special Fears of Women

¿4.¿The Penny Press

¿5.¿The Flash Newspapers

¿6.¿Questionable Advertising

¿7.¿The Murder of Helen Jewett

¿8.¿The Mystery of Mary Rogers

¿9.¿Lurid Scandals

10.¿Humbugs and Hoaxes

11.¿­Eye-Catching Illustrations

12.¿The Police Gazette

13.¿Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper

14.¿Yellow Journalism

15.¿Nellie Bly and Stunt Reporting

16.¿The Era of Muckraking

17.¿Tabloid Media

Postscript

Appendix: Approximate Dates of Journalistic Periods

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Jeremy Agnew, a biomedical electronics consultant, holds a PhD in engineering and has been involved in the design and manufacture of medical devices for more than 30 years. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has written several books on the Old West.

Product details

• Authors: Jeremy Agnew, Agnew Jeremy
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.03.2024
• EAN: 9781476692319
• ISBN: 978-1-4766-9231-9
• No. of pages: 258
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 13 mm
• Weight: 340 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Journalism; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Media Studies, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Journalism, 20th Century, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Media & Communications, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Press & journalism, Social and cultural history, United States of America, USA, Early 20th century c 1900 to c 1950, News media and journalism, Media studies: Journalism