Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
Thomas D. Segel Bio

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Younger Americans may not be familiar with the term, "Yellow Journalism", but it is part of our history and has been around for more than 100 years. It first was used in 1898 to describe the writings of such historic figures as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. It was common practice during those years for journalists, led by Pulitzer and Hearst to print inaccurate information, opinion as news, distorted accounts of events and biased interpretations of anything with which the writer disagreed. Because there was no other source of information, newspapers gained huge political power and had few challenges to anything put into print. Those citizens who had a better understanding and grasp of events taking place in America labeled the practice of lying to the public in print...Yellow Journalism.

Does the practice of Yellow Journalism continue today? If you are a member of the United States Armed Forces your answer will be a resounding "Yes". It is evident in almost every mainstream media report on the military.

Now in fairness to the media, there was a time in our history when journalists who reported the news treated those who take up the use of arms in defense of the nation, honorably. Historical archives are filled with eyewitness accounts of heroism. There are detailed records of battles, victories, defeats, danger and humor. This was true of the Civil War as seen in the reports about both sides of the conflict. The horror of World War I, for the most part, was treated in a forthright manner. World War II saw print journalism and radio united in patriotic defense of the American fighting men and women.

War Correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed in combat two years before I put on a uniform, but I have heard stories of his tributes to the fighting man uncountable times. His reporting and devotion to our foot soldiers has become legendary.

I am among the few still standing who can recall famed Combat Photographers Joe Rosenthal and Lou Lowery as friends. They are both known for their photographic reporting on the Battle of Iwo Jima. There are not many people around today who heard the accounts of their inching past both wounded and dead Marines on February 23, 1945 to photograph the battle and six men raising aloft the Stars and Stripes on Mount Suribachi. These heroic men were true combat correspondents and can be held up as representatives of a news reporting class that has faded into history.

By the time we were engaged in the Vietnam conflict liberalism had permeated the entertainment industry, our schools, colleges and almost every aspect of the media. The impact this godless, socialistic philosophy would have on future journalists was preordained.

Those who take time to truthfully examine history will see that the United States Armed Forces won every battle they engaged in across Vietnam. American politicians, with major assistance from the left leaning, liberal media lost the war.

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