Editorial cartoon for June 1898 issue of Vim magazine

Since dominating the media, the Spanish American War also generated the United States' first media battles during the yellow journalism period.The phrase "yellow journalism" developed from a feud between the era's two newspaper titans, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The phrase "yellow journalism" sprang from a competition between the era's two newspaper titans, Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. Leon Barritt's editorial cartoon from June 1898 depicts Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, each dressed as the Yellow Kid comics character and competing for control of the war.