The Wasp — 1893 — page 331: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This single-panel comic sequence mocks sensationalist newspaper journalism. The title "Modern Journalism" with subtitle "The Wasp" frames nine vignettes showing how scandals are manufactured and exploited for profit. The narrative progresses from a city editor encouraging reporters to fabricate stories (panel 1), through reporters pursuing and staging dramatic moments (panels 2-5), to a newspaper building sensationalizing a "Daily Scandal" about "Deacon Duff" (panel 8). The final panels show the scheme's darker consequences: blackmail, evidence-selling, and detection agencies profiting from manufactured crises. The satire critiques how competitive newspapers create false narratives, exploit private citizens, and corrupt public discourse purely for circulation and profit—portraying journalism as predatory rather than informative.