Scooped!: Media Miss Real Story on Crime While Chasing Sex, Sleaze and Celebrities Book

When the New York World printed the first color comic strip ("Hogan's Alley") in 1894, its rival, the New York Journal quickly employed the cartoonist and ignited a war between the superpowers of American journalism. At the center of the controversy was the Yellow Kid, the bad boy star of "Hogan's Alley," who attracted hoards of readers to the papers. Because both papers vied for the artist and used sensational stories to build readership, they were soon called the "Yellow Press," thus yellow journalism was born.

After more than a century, with the onslaught of entertainment television programs such as A Current Affair, David J. Krajicek believes that sensationalized news is not only alive and kicking, but has mutated into something possibly more pervasive and destructive than in previous times. In Scooped!, Krajicek draws upon his past as a crime reporter for the Daily News in New York to show how "back-alley journalism" has distorted reality and created a nation "that knows everything about Amy Fisher but next to nothing about the development of our national criminal justice policies." From the television tabloid journalism embodied by such shows as A Current Affair to even the mainstream press's descent into sensationalism at the expense of solid journalism, Krajicek paints a disturbing portrait of a fourth estate more interested in the bottom line than providing thoughtful analysis or serious reporting on important issues.