"Your true yellow journalist can work himself into quite a fiery fever of enthusiasm over a Christmas fund or a squalid murder, as over a war or a presidential campaign. He sees everything through the magnifying glass and can make a firstpage sensation out of a story which a more sober paper would dismiss with a paragraph inside." -journalist Willis J. Abbott (Cohen, 20)
Sensationalism
The idea of sensationalism has existed as long as there has been reported news. Often associated with terms such as the penny press, jazz journalism, tabloid, gossip, and of course, yellow journalism, it has always been a part of this form of media culture (Cohen,8). Sensationalism is a marketing strategy that over the years has managed to significantly affect how audiences read and react to the news.
No longer confined to the world of newspaper print, the notion of yellow journalism and senationlism now runs rampnat on television and the Internet, and has led to the creation of new media genres which focus soley on reporting on gossip and specualtion.
When looking at how crime and justice are represented in the media, it is common to associate the notion of sensationalism with this type of news reporting. Despite the number of crimes being committed each and every day, it is only the most violent, severe and high-profile crimes that receive media attention.
Social Learning Theory: What We Learn From The News
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