<P> It was the first conflict in which military action was precipitated by media involvement . The war grew out of U.S. interest in a fight for revolution between the Spanish military and citizens of their Cuban colony . American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of Spanish colonies worldwide . </P> <P> Several forces within the United States were pushing for a war with Spain . Their tactics were wide - ranging and their goal was to engage the opinion of the American people in any way possible . Men such as William Randolph Hearst, the owner of The New York Journal was involved in a circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and saw the conflict as a way to sell papers . Many newspapers ran articles of a sensationalist nature and sent correspondents to Cuba to cover the war . Correspondents had to evade Spanish authorities; usually they were unable to get reliable news and relied heavily on informants for their stories . Many stories were derived from second or third hand accounts and were either elaborated, misrepresented or completely fabricated by journalists to enhance their dramatic effect . Theodore Roosevelt, who was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy at this time, wanted to use the conflict both to help heal the wounds still fresh from the American Civil War, and to increase the strength of the US Navy, while simultaneously establishing America as a presence on the world stage . Roosevelt put pressure on the United States Congress to come to the aid of the Cuban people . He emphasized Cuban weakness and femininity to justify America's military intervention . </P> <P> The United States had long been interested in acquiring Cuba from the declining Spanish Empire . Prompted by John L. O'Sullivan, President James Polk offered to buy Cuba from Spain for $100 million in 1848, but Spain declined to sell the island . O'Sullivan continued to raise money for filibustering expeditions on his own, eventually landing him in legal trouble . </P> <P> Filibustering continued to be a major concern for presidents after Polk . Whigs presidents Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore tried to suppress the expeditions . When the Democrats recaptured the White House in 1852 with the election of Franklin Pierce, a filibustering effort by John A. Quitman to acquire Cuba received the tentative support of the president . Pierce backed off, however, and instead renewed the offer to buy the island, this time for $130 million . When the public learned of the Ostend Manifesto in 1854, which argued that the United States could seize Cuba by force if Spain refused to sell, this effectively killed the effort to acquire the island . The public now linked expansion with slavery; if Manifest Destiny had once enjoyed widespread popular approval, this was no longer true . </P>

When did william hurst publish the sinking of maine