Learn about the rise of yellow journalism and the fine if occasionally wavering line between sensationalism and fake news in this series of videos from the American Masters film Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People. Learn about the impact of visual design in early newspapers and how it continues to influence media today. Discover the competitive tactics—that crossed the line into fake news—Joseph Pulitzer and William R. Hearst employed to outsell each other, particularly in their personal competition to sell newspaper during the Spanish-American War. Support materials include vocabulary, discussion questions, and teaching tips for engaging students through analyzing the visual design of Pulitzer’s paper and making connections to modern journalism and current issues surrounding fake news.

American Masters – Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People explores the remarkable man behind the prestigious prizes. A Jewish immigrant from Hungary, Joseph Pulitzer began as a gifted journalist before becoming a successful publisher and businessman. Pulitzer was famous in his own time for his outspoken and cantankerous editorial voice and his newspapers’ striking illustrations, visual style, national circulation, and financial success. Against the context of America’s explosive growth as a world force during the Gilded Age, Pulitzer emerges as the country’s first media titan, reshaping the newspaper to bear witness to and even propel that transformation. Joseph Pulitzer tirelessly championed what he regarded as the sacred role of the free press in a democracy.