ABSTRACT
Confederate veterans had organized the original Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1866 in hopes of preventing former slaves from exercising their recently acquired rights. For the most part, American journalism didn't stand in the way, as most newspapers feared the Klan's burgeoning power. Unwilling to challenge the organization's network of support, many editors covered the public events and official announcements of the KKK as they did those of any group. The first and most comprehensive journalistic crusade in defiance of the Klan was a no-holds-barred exposé in the paper that Joseph Pulitzer had built. The New York World promoted its blockbuster with full-page ads that screamed, in three-inch letters "Ku Klux Klan Exposed!”. Though the anti-Klan crusades of the World and Commercial Appeal were courageous, a third paper deserves even more praise.
