The editor of the Isle of Wight Observer published on October 12th, 1889 hoped that future generations may not be so seduced by sensationalism – for which he blamed America. We think it is probable that he would be disappointed if he were still around today!

We may be allowed to protest against the sensationalism which has been introduced by American journals. All the details of a horrible crime, or a disgusting divorce case, are spiced, amplified and repeated over and over again till some journals are literally little better than a catalogue of crimes and horrors. All the depravity and wickedness of the world is brought under the ken of the readers of such journals, and the historians of the future (when let us hope a better taste will prevail) will look back upon the 19th century – as presented in the pages of these prints – as a period of such unexampled wickedness that it is a wonder the heavens do not rain fire and brimstone on such a depraved lot of people. And yet crime and sin are but the excrescences of modern life. There are high ideals and noble work to record. There are, fortunately, thousands who have not “bowed the knee to Baal,” and who think their leisure hours may be more profitably spent than in studying the minute details of the latest horror, or the prurient revelations of the divorce court. But it is not altogether the fault of the newspapers – it is the coarse tastes of the thousands who eagerly buy them. We can say, from experience, that nothing sends the circulation of a paper up like a “good murder,” or a “good scandal,” and, after all, newspapers are commercial speculations.