Definition

1. Noun:
   • Sensationalist journalism: A type of journalism that presents little or no legitimate, well-researched news and instead uses eye-catching headlines, exaggerations, scandals, and sensationalism to increase sales or attract attention. It prioritizes excitement and emotion over factual accuracy.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The newspaper was accused of yellow journalism for its exaggerated coverage of the celebrity scandal.
  • Historians note that yellow journalism played a role in stirring public sentiment before the war.
  • Responsible reporters avoid the tactics of yellow journalism.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used historically to describe the newspaper circulation war between Joseph Pulitzer's and William Randolph Hearst's in the late 19th century.
• It is used critically to condemn modern media outlets that employ similar sensationalist tactics, even if not using the specific historical term.

Variants and Related Words

• Yellow press (noun phrase): The collective term for newspapers that practice yellow journalism.
  • The story was only reported in the yellow press.
• Sensationalism (noun): The use of exciting or shocking stories or language at the expense of accuracy, to provoke public interest or excitement. This is the core concept behind yellow journalism.

Synonyms

• Tabloid journalism: Journalism characteristic of tabloid newspapers, focusing on sensational crime stories, astrology, celebrity gossip, and television.
• Sensationalist press: Media outlets that engage in sensationalism.
• Jingoism (in a specific, historical context related to war reporting): Extreme patriotism, especially in the form of aggressive or warlike foreign policy, which was often promoted through yellow journalism.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• While not a phrasal verb, the phrase "yellow journalism" itself functions as a fixed idiom in English to describe the specific practice.
• "Race to the bottom": This modern idiom can describe the competitive dynamic that leads to yellow journalism, where media outlets compete for attention by lowering journalistic standards.

Noun

1. sensationalist journalism