I thought the old gay lady became such when she started the Spanish American War by printing rumors that Spanish saboteurs sunk the American warship in Cooba. The Yellow Press or some such rot, what?
The Hearst paper, The New York Journal, was the seed of what became Yellow Journalism from that war. The name itself traces to the Yellow Kid comic strip that appeared in Heart's flagship newspaper.
Until 1912, The New York Times was just another newspaper in the crowded market of the city. Adolph Ochs had owned the paper less than 20 years when its vast coverage of the Titanic story gave it prominence. The Times paid Marconi wireless operator Harold Bride for exclusive rights to his story, thus scooping the competition.