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Yellow Kid Murderer

created by BOZART

[The last scene of the previous chapter]

"Can you tell me?"

The woman took her eyes off the screen and stared back at me.

"I'm sorry?"

"About him."

"Who?"

"The man who created modern journalism or whatever you called it."

"Ah, him."

"Why did he create it?"

.

Chapter.2

2.1

The old lady shifted in her seat as to make herself comfortable and smiled before opening her mouth to respond.

“If you really want to know, then you should probably know his life story first, no?"

I nodded.

"He was born in a wealthy Hungarian household."

She continued as she looked out the window.

"But the father suddenly died. And the rest of the remaining family had to immigrate to America to survive."

The woman paused and took a deep breath before continuing.

"But life still wasn't easy after. And eventually, he enlisted into the army."

"Army?"

"It was during the civil war. And if you joined the army, you were granted citizenship."

The woman took a sip of water.

"Things finally started to look up for him once he was discharged. Shortly after becoming a lawyer, he was elected to the local council at the age of 22. But that wasn't all. In order to earn revenue, he bought and sold copies of his local newspaper."

"So basically he started his political and media career at the same time."

"But that was just the beginning. He was given the opportunity to bring himself up to the upper class society."

"And how was that?"

“Simple."

She smiled and continued.

"He got married to a woman from Mississippi. From then, he jumped straight into a full-scale business in journalism. He bought out two local newspapers from St. Louis and merged the two."

I nodded in understanding as she continued.

"And then he accomplished his dream by moving to New York."

"New York, you say?"

"That's correct. He bought out a newspaper that was struggling under poor management and hardships and with his skills, he was able to bring the newspaper back up to success.”

"And how did he do that exactly?"

"He believed that the key to success for a media business lied in the circulation. So he used all possible methods to increase subscription rates.”

"Seems a lot easier said than done."

"He tried to increase the number of pages and content produced and implemented color printing. And the newspaper was only two cents per copy."

I nodded my head once more.

"And certainly just increasing content wouldn't just automatically increase circulation.”

"Precisely. So when that didn't work, he started filling up the pages of the newspapers with sensational news that weren't necessarily accurate."

I furrowed my eyebrows in thought before opening my mouth to respond.

"Wait a minute."

The woman stopped in her tracks and stared back at me.

"Yes?"

"That's 'yellow journalism,' right?”

The woman gave a smile.

"That would be correct."

"But we're talking about the founder of our modern journalism, right?"

"Yes."

"But this man that you speak of coined the term 'yellow journalism.'"

I turned my head slightly in confusion.

"Exactly.”

I hesitated before continuing.

"So the gentleman who created 'yellow journalism' also created modern journalism. Who's this man you speak of?"

The woman grabbed inside her purse and pulled out what seemed to be a small photo.

Then, she placed it in front of me on the table.

"This man."

Joseph Pulitzer (1847 ~1911)

2.2

“Pulitzer? So you're talking about THE Pulitzer?" ”

I stared at the image before me, my eyes widening in shock.

“Yes."

I looked up to stare at the woman.

"And so... how is it that yellow journalism has become the root of modern journalism?”

"It wasn't just his abilities alone that allowed him to have such a large influence on the media. It was rivalry."

"Rivalry you say?"

The woman nodded and continued.

"He was caught in a fierce war over the press with another individual and therefore, the media market expanded rapidly."

"Who was this rival?"

"That would be New York journalist Hearst. He inherited a great legacy from being raised under a wealthy family.”

"So he came from a completely different background as Pulitzer?"

"Exactly. Hearst was rich, young, and ambitious. He was able to showcase the true capabilities of the new form of journalism that Pulitzer introduced."

"So then?”

"Hearst inherited the New York Journal and began a war with Pulitzer's New York World. And Hearst was far more aggressive."

"In what way?"

"Pulitzer's New York World only costed two cents even after the increased number of pages and use of color, but Hearst's New York Journal only costed one cent."

"That's incredible!"

"The circulation war that erupted between the two was emotionally charged. It was actually because of the battle itself that both newspapers' number of subscriptions skyrocketed as the readers became highly invested in the fight between the two.”

"So they fought against each other but both reaped the benefits.”

The woman nodded in response.

"At first, the fight was over the news stories, but after time passed, Hearst started taking people away from Pulitzer.”

"The people? Isn't that a little childish?"

"Well, that can be seen as Pulitzer's perspective. But in reality, those people voluntarily shifted over the Hearst."

"And why did the people make the shift?”

"You could say that Pulitzer wasn't very humane."

"I see."

"But there was an incident that made the situation even worse."

I raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Before the woman continued, she looked around to make sure no one could hear her and whispered.

"The Yellow Kid kidnapping case.”

My eyes widened and I instantly responded in a loud voice.

"Yellow Kid?!"

2.3

The woman remained silent for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"The Yellow Kid isn't an actual person."

I looked at her in disbelief.

"I'm sorry?"

"That was the main character of a comic.”

"A comic?"

The woman smiled and took a sip of water.

"The Yellow Kid was the main character of a highly popular comic strip in Pulitzer's New York World.

I nodded slowly, still trying to grasp what the woman was saying.

"So how does this Yellow Kid get kidnapped then?"

The woman let out another laugh.

"That was just an expression that I used.”

I relaxed back into my seat as I let out a sigh. The woman caught her breath from laughing and continued.

"Hearst took Pulitzer's cartoonist and started running The Yellow Kid in his own newspaper."

"And Pulitzer just sat back and watched him?"

"Why, of course not. After all, it was the comic that was the main reason for Pulitzer's success."

"So then what did he do?”

"He did what everyone does. Eventually the fight was taken to court."

As I became more interested, I leaned closer to the woman.

"And the verdict?"

"The court ruled that Hearst had no exclusive rights to the comic."

"So Pulitzer won?"

"Not necessarily. Pulitzer still couldn't necessarily steal back The Yellow Kid from Hearst."

I scratched my head in confusion.

"So Pulitzer... lost?"

The woman hesitated before responding.

"In a way, yes."

"So then what happened?"

"Because The Yellow Kid wasn't copyrighted, Pulitzer hired another cartoonist to continue drawing the original comic strip."

I gave a scrunched up expression as I tried to process the ridiculous situation.

"So you're telling me that The Yellow Kid ran simultaneously in both newspapers?"

"Yes. And it's because of the comic that the term 'yellow journalism' came to be."

I drummed my fingers against the table in thought.

"How... interesting. To think that 'yellow journalism' would come out of a comic."

"And back then, it was understandably so. The Yellow Kid helped popularize and enhance color printing and served as an important symbol.”

"How truly ironic!"

"The more intense the battle between the two got, the greater the number of newspaper sales and the greater the influence over the press in the media got."

She continued.

"And that was how Pulitzer, who was respected by many, changed the course of history."
I looked at her strangely."

"That seems like a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?”

The woman looked straight back at me.

"I wouldn't think so."

"What do you mean?"

The woman came closer and whispered.

"He ignited the war."

.

(to be continued...)

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