Page 129 - Historical Dictionary of Political Communication in the United States

PULITZER,
JOSEPH
118
Pulitzer's technique was soon emulated by William Randolph Hearst, who
imitated the World with his New York Journal and lured staffers away from the
World at higher salaries. The World-Journal competition became known as
yellow journalism after a cartoon character called "the Yellow Kid." It was
drawn by Richard F. Outcault, and he was one of those whom Hearst lured
away from Pulitzer. Pulitzer, however, found someone else to draw "the Yellow
Kid." The competitiveness between the two men for sensationalistic stories
coined the phrase "yellow journalism." Part of yellow journalism was sensa-
tional reporting of events in Cuba and of the Spanish-American War. Both
papers gained circulation, but Pulitzer and the World were highly criticized and
lost prestige.
The Pulitzer legacy includes the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia
and the prizes that bear his name. His will provided the funding that made both
possible. (See also William Randolph Hearst; Yellow Journalism.)
SOURCES: George Juergens, Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World, 1966; William
McGuire and Leslie Wheeler, American Social Leaders, 1993; Donald Paneth, The En-
cyclopedia of American Journalism, 1983.
Guido H. Stempel III