Has it always been thus?

Confederate Yankee has an interesting post on WaPo and yellow journalism as evidenced in a recent article the paper ran on bio trailers in Iraq:

Spin. Cut. Run.

To hear Editor & Publisher tell it, you would think that Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick was standing firmly behind his page A1 story from yesterday, where his opening paragraphs strongly asserted that the Bush Administration ignored the "unanimous findings" of a team of weapons experts to purposefully present the American people with false information.

The Post’s agenda-driven journalism was destroyed before the first copy of the print edition hit the street.

There is more ofcourse, but reading this and some of the comments to the post made me wonder if the yellow journalism is something that has always been a part of our political landscape.

The following was written by one James Callender in the Recorder on September 1, 1802:

It is well known that the man whom it delighteth the people to honor,keeps and for many eyars has kept, a concubine, one of his slaves. Her name is Sally....

By this wench Sally, our President has had several children, There is not an indiviudal in the neighborhood of Charlottsville who does not believe the story, and not a few who know it...The AFRICAN VENUS is said to officiate as housekeeper at Monticello.

{emphasis is the author's}
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Callender was found dead in three feet of water not long after this story was written. He had been drinking and cause of death was not known. He had no shortage of enemies. In fact he had savaged John Adams as well. After being jailed under the Sedition Act Callender found himself in want of funds. Jefferson, who had used the man's services in his partisan attacks on Adams had instructed his secretary Meriwether Lewis to give Callender $50. The man wanted a job, not a hand out and so he turned his wrathful pen on Jefferson. Abigail Adams said it was as if the serpent Jefferson had cherished and warmed had turned on him.

I found this story in David McCullough's book on John Adams. It seems there has never been a shortage of less than honest journalists or partisan politicians who employ their services.