Creelman later praised the work of the reporters for writing about how Spain treated Cuba , arguing , '' no true history of the war ... can be written without an acknowledgment that whatever of justice and freedom and progress was accomplished by the Spanish-American war was due to the enterprise and tenacity of yellow journalists , many of whom lie in unremembered graves . '' Creelman later praised the work of the reporters for exposing the horrors of Spanish misrule , arguing , '' no true history of the war ... can be written without an acknowledgment that whatever of justice and freedom and progress was accomplished by the Spanish-American war was due to the enterprise and tenacity of yellow journalists , many of whom lie in unremembered graves . ''