Joseph Pulitzer's New York World

 

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Joseph Pulitzar shown having influnce over the news 

The New York World:

Influential and Infamous 

    The late 19th century marked a big changed in how the news functioned and what companies did to attract readers. No man took advantage of this more than Joseph Pulitzar. Born on April 18 1847, he was on track to being in the Austrian army. However, he was turned down due to bad health and poor eyesight. Due to this, he immigrated to America and served in the Civil War. After the war he began to work for a  German newspaper the Westliche Post. He was extremely ambitious and served in the Missouri legislature, before becoming head of The Post. Because of this he became extremely weathy buying The Evening Dispach and merged it with The Post. 

    Due to his vast amount of wealth, he moved to New York and began his journey to save a collapsing newspaper: The New York World. 

    

    Before Joseph Pulitzer saved the paper, The New York World was continously loosing 40,000 dollars a year. Joseph Pulitzar purchased the paper in 1883 for over 300,000 dollars, over 20 years after its founding. Pulitzar hired Nellie Bly as a writer for the paper and Richard Outcault as a artist. 

   Pulitzar rebranded the paper as one that would focus on sensationalism, scandals and human interest stories. Pulitzar intended to use the paper to expose fraud, fight public evils and battle for the people. Outcault specifically played a major role in the paper's success. He created cartoon comics set in the slums that resonated with readers at the time. His most famous work was The Yellow Kid which would go onto be massive aspect of the rivalry with Hearst's Paper. Nellie Bly wrote about poverty and labor conditions in New York City. She even pretended to go mad to get into the insane asylum on Blackwell's island. 

    Pulitzar had major success with his focus on sensational writings and big taglines that would hook readers in. However William Hearst, the son of a wealthy mining tycoon moved into New York City and founded The New York Journal. In order to compete with Pulitzar, Hearst offered higher wages to Pulitzar's staff causing even the most loyal like Outcault to join him. 

    Pulitzar and Hearst got into a heated rivalry after Outcault's defection, both doing anything they can to get a leg up on the other. The two papers' comic strips became key players in the rivaly, naming the era yellow journalism. The era boosted circulation for both paper's especially in major cities. 

    Joseph Pulitzar died in 1911, and his son Ralph Pulitzar took over New York World. The era of yellow journalism ended in the 20th century however many of the idea's it sprung still remain today. People still see bright and appealing headlines with catcthy titles not just on newpaers, but even when on their search engines today. Human interest stories and attract readers still dominate the newspaper and broadcast spaces today as well. Despite the end of Pulitzar and Hearst's rivaly, their ideas remain a core part of the industry today and into the future.