How was Yellow Journalism a motivation for America to overtake Spanish colonies?

Question

anonymous · Answer

By stoking public and political sentiment to push America into war, often through a heavy exaggeration of the facts.

Reports on conditions in Cuba, for example, were played up to sway policy makers into entering into war against Spain. While it was true that Spain was engaged in brutal crackdowns in Cuba in order to maintain its hold, a number of papers in New York (particularly those owned by Hearst) jumped on the chance to make them seem a lot worse than they were.

When the USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor, investigators worked to discover the cause but yellow journalism practices had literally placed the blame on a possible "mine or torpedo" before all of the facts were in, stoking the fire of anger against Spain's brutality in Cuba as another example.