The term originated from a comic strip character named "The Yellow Kid", which was featured in both the New York World and the New York Journal. These two newspapers, led by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, were engaged in a fierce circulation war, and both used sensationalistic and often exaggerated reporting, along with the popular Yellow Kid comic strip, to attract readers.
The use of the term "yellow journalism" to describe this style of reporting became popular during the rivalry and has since been used to describe any form of journalism that emphasizes sensationalism and exaggeration over factual reporting.