Yellow journalism

This month our host at Art Journal Journey is Rike of Rike's Art.  Rike wants us to use yellow as the main ingredient in our art.

I call this Yellow Journalism.

So what is yellow journalism?  In the late 1880s, there was an influx of immigrants.  Editors of newspapers in the U.S. were going for greater sales.  Thus yellow journalism was born.  It is an exaggerated, exploitative, sensational style of newspaper reporting.  You may have seen newspapers that exploit it in your check-out lines at your local supermarket.   Who hasn't read something like "baby weighing 43 lbs born to 12 year old virgin!"  OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but it is a good example of yellow journalism.

Both William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, who ran rival New York newspapers became fiercely competitive over the events during the Spanish-American War.  They chose to exaggerate events, manipulate, fabricate, and often mistreat the truth, all to incite the public and provoke interest in a way that would increase sales of their respective newspapers.

Although the style of writing may have started in the states, and is sometimes referred to as the yellow press, the UK has a similar term called tabloid journalism.

"She only read

yellow journalism."

I make no secret how much I admire the art of Alison Bomber.  On her blog, Words and Pictures, she uses tissue tape to ground her images.  I have no tissue tape, but I have some washi tape that is similar, so I used it to give my lady a place to stand.

For this entry, I began by gluing a page from our local newspaper (given me by my foodie friend Sally).  I don't want or mean to imply this newspaper is involved in yellow journalism, but it is the only one to which I had access.  After it was glued in place to 110 lb cardstock, I colored it using a yellow bingo dabber (so much cheaper than the ones a certain well known company sells).  I printed the computer generated words, then colored them using the same bingo dabber.  I outlined them in purple ink, then added the washi tape and the woman reading her book of yellow journalism.

Thank you so much for spending some of your computer time with me today.  I hope you will join Bleubeard and me this month at Art Journal Journey with your yellow inspired art, too.

BTW, I will only watch the ads during the Superbowl today.  Since each advertiser paid 5 MILLION DOLLARS for a 30 second spot, I can't wait to see what is in store for each commercial.  Personally, I don't really want either team to win. I have my own imaginary game going that involves the Chiefs and the Saints.  There will be no missed calls and no overtime.  If only the outcome of their two semi-final games had been different.