Deconstruction and Reconstruction: Defining New Yellow Journalism in the New Media Era from the Perspective of News Elements

Since April 12, 2024, when Peoples Daily published the article The Qin Lang Lost Homework Incident Is Fabricated, Influencer Apologizes! The Proliferation of New Yellow Journalism Is Dangerous in response to the viral online topic Qin Lang Losing Homework in Paris, the term new yellow journalism has entered the public discourse. There is now a general consensus in academia regarding the definition of new yellow journalism, but discussions in the field of news elements remain incomplete. Most research focuses on the impact of news values on newsworthiness from a realistic perspective, and Western studies on new yellow journalism are limited to political aspects and do not delve into its effects on public life. This article, based on the perspective of news elements, distinguishes the term new yellow journalism from yellow journalism and tabloid or sensational news, analyzing its defining features and attempting to explain the characteristics of this journalistic phenomenon that emerged in a specific period.