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We constantly see the current resident of the Oval Office and his co-president Elon Musk saber-rattle and threaten invasions of our neighbors—all with the active assistance of media sycophants who call themselves “journalists.” It brings to mind the yellow journalism that helped spark the Spanish-American War, just to sell newspapers. it feels like we are watching history repeat itself.
Saturday marks the anniversary of the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, which led to 266 fatalities. The Maine’s demise became the rationale to propel us into the Spanish-American War.
As Malea Walker explained in the Library of Congress blog on Feb. 6, improved printing presses and the new Linotype machine led to a massive surge in newspaper production in the 1890s—and every outlet wanted to get as many readers as possible.
Two publishers in particular are known for their rivalry at that time: Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Pulitzer purchased the New York World in 1883 and was known for recruiting Nellie Bly and launching a color Sunday supplement in 1895. Hearst purchased the New York Journal in 1895 which began the rivalry with Pulitzer, with Hearst even stealing away the popular Yellow Kid cartoon from the World the following year. As the two pushed for higher circulation numbers, the headlines became bigger and more outrageous.
The term “yellow journalism” began as a reference to Richard F. Outcault’s “Yellow Kid” cartoon. Because it was published in both The World and the New York Journal, “yellow kid journalism” or “yellow journalism” was a way to refer to the sensationalism that they were both known for.
That context is crucial to understand what happened after the USS Maine sank.
… within days of the explosion, newspapers were blaming Spain. Evidence was misreported or even fabricated, published with large headlines and gruesome images, shocking readers.
Once the blame was laid onto Spain, headlines in newspapers including the New York Journal and the World began calling for action. They even went as far as goading President William McKinley and the U.S. military to try and force a military response.
And as M. Mallon wrote for Urban Fictionary in 2019, once the official inquiry was released and implied the USS Maine was brought down by “an external explosion,” all bets were off for Hearst and Pulitzer.
The U.S.S Maine Disaster: Yellow Journalism At Its Finest
Regardless of evidence, they extrapolated on the inquiry’s vague conclusion in order to profit from American hysteria. Only five days after the incident, the World published the headline “The World’s Latest Discoveries Indicate The Maine Was Blown Up By A Submarine Mine,” while the New York Journal claimed “Crisis Is At Hand… Spanish Treachery.”
Though the U.S. government never specifically blamed Spain for the tragedy, this was the most profitable conclusion for media. Audiences enthusiastically consumed this interpretation, increasing the demand for retaliation.
[...]
Yellow journalism was so successful because it did not create an unfamiliar narrative, but rather buttressed its audience’s existing perceptions. The ongoing conflict between Cuba and Spain had already captured the American attention, so the public was poised to receive proof to support their ill will [towards Spain}. Because of this, Hearst and Pulitzer managed to deeply influence public opinion, despite the fact that they had fabricated information surrounding the culprit.
There was no Fox News, no X, no Facebook, and no Truth Social at the time, but hyping war to sell papers feels eerily like the “coverage for clicks” we see today.
In January, Meta announced it would no longer fact-check content. In response, Ethan Zuckerman, writing for the UK’s Prospect magazine, examined the critical role media played in driving the U.S. into the Spanish-American War—and the end result.
When the Spanish-American war ended later that year, the US took ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Hearst and Pulitzer were both fabulously wealthy and powerful. Other less successful newspaper owners warned of the dangers of using propaganda to mobilise public passions. Perhaps it’s worth considering that caution as we consider the alignments between a powerful new medium and a conservative populist movement.
[...]
Neither Hearst nor Pulitzer’s papers survived the 20th century. A rival that did was the New York Times. Alarmed by the sensationalist propaganda Hearst and Pulitzer published leading up to the war in Cuba, the Times decided to distinguish its editorial policy with a catchy slogan: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”. In the long run, serving a public with fact-based news was more profitable than feeding populist passions.
We may want to keep that in mind, just in case Trump sends a battleship to float off Greenland’s shore, seeking war with Denmark.
In the wake of the brief war, America declared itself Puerto Rico’s liberator and never left, as Caribbean Matters detailed in July.
The U.S. also took control of Guantanamo Bay. In 2003, the Cuba Solidarity Campaign outlined that checkered history.
How the US stole Guantanamo Bay
The history of Guantanamo Bay is a perfect example of US policy towards Cuba since the end of the 19th century. In 1898, just as the Cuban patriots’ independence army was about to achieve victory after 30 years of armed struggle against the Spanish Crown, the United States declared war on Spain after their warship, The Maine, was allegedly torpedoed by the Spanish. Later that year, rule of Cuba was transferred from Madrid to Washington at the Treaty of Paris, where no Cubans were present, after US President McKinley had stated “it wouldn’t be wise to recognise the independence of the Cuban Republic”.
However, the Cuban struggle for independence looked likely to begin again, this time against US rule and in 1901 the US introduced the Platt Amendment. This allowed the President to hand over rule of the island to the Cuban people, but only after a government and constitution could be established that set out future relations between the two countries. A major part of the constitution forced the future Cuban government to lease part of its territory for the establishment of US naval stations. The result was the 1903 Permanent Treaty, which decided that a piece of Cuban land was to be leased to the USA, and 100 years ago the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ceased to be a part of Cuban territory.
The base was very unpopular with the Cuban people before the US Navy had even moved in, leading the Cuban government to write a letter to Washington asking for any changeover ceremony to be kept to a minimum, as there had been protests against the lease. But only nine years later, the US imposed another agreement on Cuba, enlarging the size of the US area to what it is now, even though this covered an access channel which had previously been agreed as a shared channel, to ensure ‘free trade.’
For more on the Spanish-American War and its aftermath, check out this cheeky, concise, animated history.
As we watch major newspapers and media outlets buckle under the new Trump-Musk cabal, we must “remember the Maine” and the outcome. The media’s previous warmongering and extraction of support from the American public for both oppression and colonialism is a part of our history we should not ignore, lest it happen again.
Join me in the comments to discuss, and for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.
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