Did yellow journalism cause the Spanish-American War? The Spanish-American War was a brief conflict between Spain and America that occurred between April and July 1898. This war was attributed to the cessation of Spain's worldwide empire and the conquest of several nascent territories in the Caribbean and Pacific for the United States. Although the topic offers many differing opinions from many historians, this war was a conflict that was “a newspaper war,” brought on by sensational and irresponsible yellow journalism. .William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer are historically known for being the first to use yellow journalism in their newspapers on a considerably voluminous scale. Some historians argue that Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst did not start the Spanish-American War but aggravated it (Hearst, 1999). On the other hand, many historians have argued that Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst started the Spanish-American War through their newspapers' use of yellow journalism (Simmons, 2003). Yellow journalism contributed to the Spanish-American War by failing diplomacy between the United States and Spain and making people angry with Spain. “Hearst, being the new kid on the American media block, did everything in his power to provoke a war and increase newspaper sales. Seib argues that ultimately, because public opinion had shifted so dramatically toward intervention due to the sensational stories of Hearst and his competitors, President McKinley was forced to give the American public the war they demanded (William Randolph Hearst , Yellow Journalism, & the Spanish-American War: Two Classroom Perspectives, Unknown).” Also stated in US Diplomacy and Yellow Journalism in 1895 “The rise of the yellow newspaper...... middle of the paper......and is poorly understood. Thus, due to misunderstood information and obvious hype, the Spanish-American War resulted, all due to irresponsible yellow journalism (American Correspondents Cover the Spanish-American War, 1878). In summary, yellow journalism made quiet diplomacy impossible and caused the Spanish-American War. The published articles infuriated public opinion to the point that war was declared on Spain. Yellow journalism disrupted the diplomatic resolution of Cuba's dilemmas with Spain and caused the American public to call for war. In this sense, yellow journalism made an important contribution to the Spanish-American War. This interpretation has proven irresistible over the years. Thus, it very neatly identifies the alleged beginnings of the war while offering a compelling example of the malign potential of uncontrolled media power..