The use of gruesome features and sensationalized news in newspaper printing to attract readers and improve circulation is known as yellow journalism. The word was coined in the 1890s to characterize the aggressive rivalry between two New York City newspapers, the World and the Journal. Journalism in the shade. That's how one paper described it. Its origin can be traced back to William Randolph Hearst, who became the owner of the Journal in 1874. To boost sales, he launched a fierce campaign against President McKinley, calling him "the murderer of people who did not kill enough." This led to a congressional investigation into the death of McKinley and his editoria resignation. After this incident, Hearst stopped using such strong language about his opponents and began publishing more objective reports about current events. The term was later adopted by other newspaper publishers to describe similar practices. For example, Joseph Pulitzer, who founded the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 1866, is said to have used sensationalism to attract readers and promote sales. His methods included writing about crime and violence, which made his paper popular with urban dwellers who may have been afraid of their neighbors. In fact, according to some historians, it was Pulitzer's decision to stop writing about murders that caused the city's police force to quit honoring his paper with tips about criminals.