We Report, You Decide

How much influence on the world can the media actually have?

As Nietzsche once said, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” Unfortunately for us, most of the press don't believe this, and present their interpretations to us as objective fact. Maybe sometimes it is, but how do we really know?

February 15, 1898. The USS Maine was in Cuba during the country’s struggle for independence from Spain when it mysteriously exploded, killing 266 US sailors. To this day no one knows for sure what caused the explosion, though today it's thought that it was likely caused by an oil leak.

At the time, William Randolph Hearst, with his New York Journal, was itching for a story to beat his competitors. What better story than sabotage and unprovoked violence against innocent American sailors? What better way to get the United States behind a war with Spain, a long-term source of unbeatable stories for the press?

Correspondents for the newspaper, Stephen Crane and [artist] Frederick Remington, were reporting from Cuba, but found nothing really to report on.

"There is no war. Request to be recalled,” was what Remington wrote to Hearst.

"Please remain. You furnish the pictures, I'll furnish the war,“ was what Hearst wrote back.

For several weeks after the destruction of the Maine, the Journal devoted at least 8 pages a day or more to the story, attributing the explosion to Spanish saboteurs and coining the war-cry “Remember the Maine and to hell with Spain!”

Editorials were written demanding vengeance. Soon the American citizens were behind a war with Spain, wanting to get revenge for something that had not even really happened. Shortly thereafter, the Spanish-American War began.



Never underestimate the power of the press. And just because a reputable newspaper publishes something, doesn't make it true.

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