Turn of the Century Newspapers; Yay for Yellow Journalism

You know how sometimes people say that "kids say the darnedest things"? Well, I think early 20th century newspapers have kids beat any day of the week. After spending my Friday and Saturday trolling through historical newspaper archives (oh term papers, how I love thee...NOT), I came across some of the weirdest articles ever put in print. I'm pretty sure that they could publish anything that struck their fancy back then, no matter how ridiculous.

For instance, one article I was reading talked about how a particular colonial government in Africa (we'll call it the Belgian Congo for the sake of fun) had hired 20,000 native cannibals to eat people who misbehaved or didn't meet their work quotas. Belgian Congo was pretty bad, (think random killings and amputations) but cannibals is a bit sensationalist. Another article I was reading about the King of Belgium (circa 1904) called the man a "King of the Stage Door Johnnies". What does that even mean? (Further inquiry reveals that it means something along the lines of "a man who waits at the back door of theaters for loose women".) But seriously, insulting the reigning monarch of a European nation right in the title of your news article? That's bold. I mean, I feel like today we would never have anything like "Floozy Queen Across the Pond" or "President Whatever of that Lame Country" in the New York Times. You really could get away with printing anything you felt like writing- the more out there and incendiary the better!

I say hoorah for yellow journalism and ridiculous. Most of what I end up reading for class is very boring, so its nice to have a dash of the ridiculous thrown in there just to liven up my many hours spent researching.

Then again, maybe times were just naturally more interesting back then. For instance, one article I was reading about the evil King Leopold II of the Belgians (quite a bad guy, honestly) was right next to a completely separate article about how an army officer gallantly attempted to bust the Princess Louis out of an insane asylum, which her husband had incarcerated her in. Need I add that the valiant army officer was madly in love with the Princess and trying to save her from her awful fate? Oh 1906, why can't the news be like that now? Maybe that is why print newspapers are going out of business- because they are all boring and polite. Spice things up! Yellow journalist worked back then (case in point, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer), why wouldn't it work now?