ONE SMALL SEED MAGAZINE Issue #26 Digital 01 | Page 31

Clickbait is nothing new, newspapers in the
1800s are guilty as well. You’ll have heard
of Joseph Pulitzer. He’s the gentleman
the Pulitzer Prizes were named after and –
somewhat ironically (or is it?) – he’s partly
responsible for the spread of the much
frowned-upon yellow journalism. The name
derives from a cartoon character called The
Yellow Kid drawn by Richard Felton Outcault.
Featured in Pulitzer’s newspaper The New
York World, this snaggle-toothed boy in a
yellow overall was responsible for a massive
increase in sales. And just like in today’s
battle for impressions, someone wanted to
top that at all costs. Randolph Hearst of The
New York Journal head-hunted Outcault
and a nasty fight ensued over the cartoonist
which Hearst won – but the battle for market
share went on. In 1898, both Pulitzer’s and
Hearst’s newspapers published rumours
of plots to sink The Maine, which sunk in
Havanna’s harbour because of an explosion
on board – critics say the sensationalising
of the event influenced the United States
and Spain to go to war in Cuba and the
Philippines (read more about this here).
Of course, greater factors played a role
as well but it shines an interesting light on
the manipulative power of clickbait. Can it
instigate serious incidents?
The risk is of course always there. Just like
an incorrectly spelt