It seems that after the original "yellow journalism" of the late 1890s, Americans began to demand more factual, neutral news. What caused the change and do you think it could be used again to slow down the click-bait version of news that happens today?
Also, perhaps this is too simple of a question, but what is the difference between what a historian does to past events and what a journalist does to current events? It seems to me like we could use some "presentorians" that work the historical method on current events. Does something like that exist?
We haven’t.
Hello! First time commenter, but I'm a journalism major and I actually took a class on the history and principles of journalism last year so I have tons of notes on the subject if you're interested! Also, my professor, Chris Daly, wrote a fantastic book titled “Covering America” + has many other published works (he also is an incredible professor who brought his golden retriever into class often; she's the dog in this meme).
On the topic of yellow journalism: it was actually a business strategy used by Joseph Pulitzer himself for his paper "The New York World." William Hearst's paper "The New York Journal" was quick to follow the trend as they were in direct competition at the time. The idea of yellow journalism was to sensationalize news and create a story, not just present information blandly. Nelly Bly is a fantastic example of writers in the Yellow Journalism era who actually performed a lot of good by way of advocacy journalism (which is literally exactly what it sounds like). She spent 10 days in an insane asylum, then published her experience in Pulitzer's "The World" bringing much needed reform to the healthcare situations in New York at the time.
It wasn't so much as the public demanding "more factual, neutral news" for the decline in yellow journalism because in fact the sensationalized issues were extremely profitable (due to the dual revenue stream as well, but that's an entirely different topic)! Journalism evolved, as it always does, and actually some aspects of yellow journalism are still around today (editorial magazines, sports sections, comics, etc.)!!
After yellow journalism evolved into more factual based reporting, appropriately dubbed "grey journalism," the "New York Times" became a very important paper in American journalism. While yellow papers were advertising at women, immigrants, and the largest demographic, grey papers were targeted at the affluent and influential. This was the new untapped niche, and Adolf Ochs (the man who bought and reformed the NY Times) believed that all sides deserved equal consideration in reporting. The NYTime was more expensive than Pulitzer's or Hearst's papers, and also ran expensive, luxury ads catered to the wealthy demographic. Since this was the immediate era following yellow journalism, I think this most closely answers your question about what came after yellow journalism.
I won't tackle the "click-bait" aspect of your post because I believe that is another topic entirely, and not particularly relevant to the history of yellow journalism. Basically, Yellow Journalism never really went away and certainly not because people "demanded" just facts. The AP has and always will be a fact ONLY new source, so if readers wanted that the AP would be much more popular outside of scholars and journalists.
The level of education in America varies so widely that headlines and visual content, as well as easy to understand/straightforward writing techniques, are essential to marketing to the largest audience. As much as I wish newspapers were free to run, they aren't. Marketing to the LARGEST possible demographic is very appealing to newspapers, hence the ads that appear in every single copy! Due to this fact, marketing tactics can get out of hand and bad papers and bad journalists taint the name of one of the most important professions to our democracy. It's a very complicated and frankly scary topic, but great journalists have prevailed throughout history despite extreme hardships.
I will end this explanation by telling you what came after grey journalism: muckrakers. This era of journalism, along with the rise of photo, really kickstarted what it means to be a journalist in my opinion. I sincerely recommend looking into some famous muckrakers (Ida B. Wells, Jacob Riis, Lincoln Steffens, and Nelly Bly just to name a few) who created huge social and political change with their voices.
Your question is very multi-layered, but I hope I cleared up at least one topic. Please feel free to let me know if you have any other HISTORY based questions, I have many notes I would love to share :)