Abstract
Historically, sensationalism has been characterised by hyperbole and exaggerated detail, with crime, murder, scandal and sex serving as key elements of sensationalistic Victorian reporting found in penny newspapers and tabloid magazines of the mid-to late 1800s. In this scholarly work, Jeremy Agnew examines the cultural dynamics of 19th-century New York City that enabled the rise of sensationalistic newspapers and magazines. Agnew focuses on what many historians have termed the ‘golden age of newspapers’, which lasted from the introduction of the penny papers in the 1830s to the arrival of radio in the 1930s. The book consists of 17 chapters and covers a wide range of topics, including the penny press, flash newspapers, lurid scandals, eye-catching illustrations, yellow journalism and the early development of tabloid media.
Before examining the specific story of the penny press and the emergence of lurid journalism, Agnew first looks further back into history to explore the types of literature that preceded the penny press and how they paved the way for the rise of sensationalistic newspapers. In doing so, in Chapter 1, Agnew focuses on three common emotional responses - fear, thrills, and titillation - that lurid stories were designed to evoke in readers. He explains that as public demand for sensational stories increased, publishers - eager to boost circulation figures and maximise profit - produced increasingly lurid content, which in turn stimulated further sales and created a self-reinforcing cycle of sensationalism.
In Chapter 2, Agnew shifts the focus to a significant social factor behind the sensationalised reporting of daily life in New York newspapers: the cultural changes brought about by the industrial revolution and America’s transition to a manufacturing-based economy. He explains that rapid urbanisation, mass immigration, and rising crime in industrialising New York shaped the sensationalised portrayal of everyday life in newspapers. Chapter 3 addresses another important social factor contributing to the popularity of sensationalism in newspapers-contemporary cultural attitudes toward women and their role in society. As Agnew explains, since fear was one of the primary emotions exploited by sensationalist newspapers, this fear was particularly intensified in stories involving threats to women, such as kidnapping or mistreatment.
In Chapter 4, Agnew delves into the history of the penny press, which served primarily as a source of sensational news. He explains that topics such as sex and scandal were especially popular, and that the inclusion of lurid and grotesque details helped to create a more striking and emotionally charged narrative. Chapter 6 specifically focuses on the (questionable) advertising strategies employed by these cheap penny newspapers. As Agnew illustrates, fear played a significant role in advertising, and one specific form of fear evoked by newspaper advertisements for patent medicines was anxiety about personal health. Through the specific examples presented in Chapters 7 to 11, Agnew demonstrates how penny newspapers and magazines used lurid scandals, juicy gossip and eye-catching illustrations to capture readers’ attention. For instance, in Chapter 8, he discusses how the death of Mary Rogers in 1841 became sensational news for the penny press. As a young and attractive woman who was raped and murdered near the city, her case generated intense public interest, and newspapers rapidly reported every gruesome detail that emerged. Reporters pursued multiple leads and, at times, even invented or exaggerated aspects of the story, making speculative suggestions and manipulations to sustain public fascination.
After establishing the defining characteristics of the penny press, Chapter 14 turns to the rise of yellow journalism - another form of sensationalistic reporting that became prominent in the late 1890s. As Agnew explains, this ‘new’ type of journalism added more spice and sensationalism by using lurid illustrations, exaggerated accounts of events, and a strong reliance on scandal-driven narratives, while also offering readers strong and explicit editorial viewpoints. For example, these newspapers frequently used large, multi-column headlines that sometimes stretched across the entire front page; lavish use of photographs and other illustrations; bold and experimental layouts in which reports and images dominated the front page; a tendency to rely on anonymous sources; and even fabricated interviews.
As Agnew notes in Chapter 16, the intense era of yellow journalism lasted until around 1900. Although sensationalism in the media did not disappear after the turn of the century, it was toned down. As yellow journalism faded in the early 20th century, it was replaced by another form of journalism known as muckraking. Muckraking magazines became some of the most influential journalistic crusaders of the period, seeking to expose municipal corruption, misconduct, and abuses within established institutions in the United States, often through highly dramatic and investigative articles published in newspapers and magazines.
The final chapter traces the history of tabloid media. As Agnew explains, newspapers of the 1920s can be loosely divided into two categories: staid, middle-of-the-road publications that offered high-quality journalism in a factual format for more educated readers, and tabloids that did not. The heyday of the sensational tabloids was the 1920s, and this form of newspaper was characterised by blaring headlines, tear-jerking feature stories, eye-catching photographs and a colourful, attention-grabbing writing style. In the postscript of the book, Agnew emphasises that although the world of journalism has changed dramatically over the years, sensationalised reporting has by no means disappeared.
Overall, Sensational News offers a rich and well-structured historical account of the rise of lurid journalism in the United States from the 1830s to the 1930s, situating its development within broader social and cultural transformations. Agnew’s detailed yet accessible narrative makes the book a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in the origins of journalism and sensationalism. By tracing the early forms of sensational reporting, the book provides important insights that contribute meaningfully to media studies and deepen our understanding of why sensationalism continues to persist in modern news culture.