Editing William Randolph Hearst (section)

== Spanish–American War ==
{{See also|Spanish–American War}}
[[File:HEARST, WILLIAM RANDOLPH LCCN2016858735.jpg|thumb|right|Hearst, {{circa}} 1900]]

The ''Morning Journal''{{'}}s daily circulation routinely climbed above the one million mark after the sinking of the {{USS|Maine|ACR-1|2}} and U.S. entry into the Spanish–American War, a war that some called "the ''Journal''{{'}}s War", due to the paper's immense influence in provoking American outrage against Spain.{{sfn|Whyte|2009|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}} Much of the coverage leading up to the war, beginning with the outbreak of the [[Cuban War of Independence|Cuban Revolution in 1895]], was tainted by rumor, propaganda, and sensationalism, with the "yellow" papers regarded as the worst offenders. The ''Journal'' and other New York newspapers were so one-sided and full of errors in their reporting that coverage of the Cuban crisis and the ensuing Spanish–American War is often cited as one of the most significant milestones in the rise of yellow journalism's hold over the mainstream media.<ref name=iipppa /> Huge headlines in the ''Journal'' assigned blame for the ''Maine''{{'}}s destruction on sabotage, which was based on no evidence. This reporting stoked outrage and indignation against Spain among the paper's readers in New York.

The ''Journal''{{'}}s crusade against Spanish rule in Cuba was not due to mere jingoism, although "the democratic ideals and humanitarianism that inspired their coverage are largely lost to history," as are their "heroic efforts to find the truth on the island under unusually difficult circumstances."{{sfn|Whyte|2009|p=260}} The ''Journal''{{'}}s journalistic activism in support of the Cuban rebels, rather, was centered around Hearst's political and business ambitions.<ref name=iipppa>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/crucible/bio_hearst.html|title=Crucible of Empire: The Spanish–American War |author=PBS|website=[[PBS]] |access-date=June 11, 2014|url-status=live|archive-date=October 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023053202/http://www.pbs.org/crucible/bio_hearst.html}}</ref>

Perhaps the best known myth in American journalism is the claim, without any contemporary evidence, that the illustrator [[Frederic Remington]], sent by Hearst to Cuba to cover the [[Cuban War of Independence]],<ref name=iipppa /> cabled Hearst to tell him all was quiet in Cuba. Hearst, in this canard, is said to have responded, "Please remain. You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war."<ref>{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=W. Joseph |title=Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies|date=2003|page=72}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Campbell |first=W. Joseph |date=December 2001 |title=You Furnish the Legend, I'll Furnish the Quote |url=https://ajrarchive.org/article.asp?id=2429&id=2429 |journal=American Journalism Review}}</ref>

Hearst was personally dedicated to the cause of the Cuban rebels, and the ''Journal'' did some of the most important and courageous reporting on the conflict—as well as some of the most sensationalized. Their stories on the Cuban rebellion and Spain's atrocities on the island—many of which turned out to be untrue<ref name=iipppa />—were motivated primarily by Hearst's outrage at Spain's brutal policies on the island. These had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Cubans. The most well-known story involved the imprisonment and escape of Cuban prisoner [[Evangelina Cosio y Cisneros|Evangelina Cisneros]].<ref name=iipppa /><ref>{{cite web |author=William Thomas Stead |author-link=William Thomas Stead |title=A Romance of the Pearl of the Antilles |url=https://archive.org/details/ARomanceOfThePearlOfTheAntilles |work=[[Review of Reviews]]}}</ref>

While Hearst and the yellow press did not directly cause America's war with Spain, they inflamed public opinion in New York City to a fever pitch. New York's elites read other papers, such as the ''Times'' and ''Sun'', which were far more restrained. The ''Journal'' and the ''World'' were local papers oriented to a very large working class audience in New York City. They were not among the top ten sources of news in papers in other cities, and their stories did not make a splash outside New York City.<ref>Ted Curtis Smythe (2003). ''The Gilded Age Press, 1865–1900''. p. 191.</ref> Outrage across the country came from evidence of what Spain was doing in Cuba, a major influence in the decision by Congress to declare war. According to a 21st-century historian, war was declared by Congress because public opinion was sickened by the bloodshed, and because leaders like McKinley realized that Spain had lost control of Cuba.<ref>Thomas M. Kane (2006). ''Theoretical Roots of US Foreign Policy''. p. 64.</ref> These factors weighed more on the president's mind than the melodramas in the ''New York Journal''.{{sfn|Nasaw|2000|p=133}}

Hearst sailed to Cuba with a small army of ''Journal'' reporters to cover the Spanish–American War;<ref>{{Cite web|title=Crucible of Empire |url=https://www.pbs.org/crucible/bio_hearst.html|access-date=October 1, 2021 |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref> they brought along portable printing equipment, which was used to print a single-edition newspaper in Cuba after the fighting had ended. Two of the ''Journal''{{'}}s correspondents, James Creelman and Edward Marshall, were wounded in the fighting. A leader of the Cuban rebels, Gen. [[Calixto García]], gave Hearst a Cuban flag that had been riddled with bullets as a gift, in appreciation of Hearst's major role in Cuba's liberation.{{sfn|Whyte|2009|p=427}}