Yellow journalism was a style of newspaper reporting that emphasized sensationalism over facts. During its heyday in the late 19th century it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States.
The link below gives more info, but here are the key points:
Frank Luther Mott identifies yellow journalism based on five characteristics:
1 -scare headlines in huge print, often of minor news
2 - lavish use of pictures, or imaginary drawings use of faked interviews,
3 - misleading headlines,
4 - pseudoscience, and a parade of false learning from so-called experts emphasis on full-color Sunday supplements, usually with comic strips
5 - dramatic sympathy with the "underdog" against the system.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
At the end of the 19th century, the main participants in yellow journalism were Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst - and this is where the link to the modern age starts.
When you think of "yellow journalism today", you'll automatically think of the National Enquirer, which actually started almost 100 years ago (in 1926).
The founder of the New York Evening Enquirer, which eventually became the National Enquirer, was William Griffin, who got the "seed money" from Hearst. The paper got into legal trouble during WWII, and it suffered a steep decline in circulation.
In 1952, it was sold to Generoso Pope Jr., who got the money for the purchase from mobster boss Frank Costello. In 1957, Pope changed the name of the paper to the National Enquirer. Throughout the 1960's, the paper concentrated on publishing gory stories - and circulation rose of 1,000,000. Not satisfied with that circulation Pope pioneered the idea of selling the newspaper in supermarkets, and changed the focus of the paper to celebrities.
In 1971, the headquarters were moved to southern Florida. When Pope died in 1988, the paper was sold to Macfadden Publishing for $412 million. In 1999, the headquarters were moved to Boca Raton, which happens to be 27 miles south of Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.
Due to its sensational stories during the 2016 campaign, the paper was EXTREMELY successful in getting Trump elected. A media expert named Regis Maher has estimated that the Enquirer's assistance to Trump was worth $2.5 to $3.5 million per month - and now David Pecker has been granted immunity by Robert Mueller.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/business/media/national-enquirer-trump-mistresses.html
Now the fun begins.