American intervention in Cuba due to newspapers absolutely fits the “most people believed it” criterion [1]:
> American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of Spanish colonies worldwide.
> American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of Spanish colonies worldwide.
[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_Spanish–Am...