What role did yellow journalism play in bringing the United States into war with Spain? As part of their study of the Spanish-American War, class groups examine newspapers of the times and other texts and then produce their own newspaper, using yellow journalism techniques, to convince readers to go to war with Spain.

Concepts

propaganda techniques, news reporting, yellow journalism

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Have class members compare the reporting of the same event on Fox News and MSMBC
• Substitute a local paper's reporting of the sinking of the Maine for the article from the Alabama paper

Classroom Considerations

• While the focus is on Alabama's ties to Spanish-American War, the materials and exercises are appropriate for any classroom

Pros

• The opening activity asks class members to make personal connections to the lesson
• The eight-page packet provides links to additional primary and secondary source materials

Cons

• Not a stand-alone lesson, the plan would need to be part of a unit study of the Spanish-American War

Common Core

RH.6-8.1 RH.6-8.6 RH.6-8.7 RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.6 RH.9-10.7 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.6 RH.11-12.7