Are We in Another Era of Yellow Journalism?

Jul 11, 2014
3 min read

I’ve always liked scary books – stuff from the imagination of Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Thomas Harris. But the most recent book was so scary I had to stop reading it.

It’s as scary as imaging Paul Bernardo getting married again. Oh, wait. . . That’s happening? Never mind then.

Meet the Master of Manipulation. . .

The book is called Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday. It tells how Holiday uses every little dirty marketing technique ever invented to manipulate blogs, newspapers and ultimately people’s opinions. He takes advantage of the seedy side of journalism to promote his client’s agenda.

Basically his ponzi scheme works like this: he feeds information –real, exaggerated or fake, it doesn’t seem to matter – to small blogs desperate for a scoop. He then fans the flames using several different methods to get the information onto larger, more reputable blogs all the way up to the Los Angeles and New York Times.

He used fake email address and fake names to falsely stimulate interest in these blogs and then each misinformation he would update on Wikipedia, making it appear legitimate.

An example of this was when he helped promote a book that popped up on the best sellers’ list three times in three years. He sent out a press release to bloggers, wording it so it sounded like the book had been on the best sellers list three consecutive years in a row—a much more impressive feat. When a journalist took the bait he was able to cite on the book’s Wikipedia’s page the book was a three consecutive year best seller.

I first read about Holiday in a newspaper article, promoting his new book Obstacle is the Way, a great read about how to overcome challenges in your life, using stoic principles. The book uses famous battles, old fables and industrious public figures to show how challenges can be a positive, not a negative.

Who is to Blame?

In Trust Me, I’m Lying, I read about a lot less nobler Holiday. For sure, we can’t blame him, at least not entirely, because most of the bloggers are willing participants.

Just like Yellow Journalists of the past, they thrive on sensationalism. It, in fact, makes me wonder if we haven’t entered another period of Yellow Journalism, one fueled by celebrities and stunt marketing.

In order for these blogs and online news sources to survive, they need to rely on advertisements which comes from page views, which, we all know, is increasingly shrinking on the internet because the competition is so fierce.

The news used to be monopolized by big corporations who could afford to publish nationwide. (That system had its own problems but that’s for another blog) But now anybody – cough, cough, Mario Lavandeira – can start a site and publish anything they want with little regard for journalist principles.

Can We Stop it?

As consumers we need to demand better fact checking, more thorough journalism and better content. Realizing how online media thrive with page views, we need to boycott sites that use sensationalism and slander to increase viewership. Only by voting with our feet – or our mouse – will the media get better.

What do you think? Have you noticed any online bloggers who play fast and loose with the truth? How do you think we can stop the spreading of gossip and manipulation.

written by Joel Mark Harris

I’m an award-wining freelance writer, editor and consultant. I’ve written two novels and produced and wrote an award-winning film that was sold to Shaw Cable. Email me at contact@joelmarkharris.com to hire me whatever your writing needs are.