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McClure's Magazine (cover, Jan, 1901) published many early muckraker articles.
McClure's Magazine (cover, Jan, 1901) published many early muckraker articles.
For other meanings, see Muckraker (disambiguation)

The term muckraker most associated with a group of American investigative reporters, novelists and critics from the late 1800s to early 1900s, who investigated and exposed societal issues such as conditions in slums and prisons, factories, insane asylums (as they were called at the time), sweatshops, mines, child labor and unsanitary conditions in food processing plants. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Investigative journalism is a type of reporting in which reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest often involving crime Political corruption, or some other Scandal A slum, as defined by the United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or interned and usually deprived of a range of A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is an industrial Building where workers manufacture goods A psychiatric hospital (previously called insane asylum, mental hospital; or derogatorily looney bin, nut house or Funny Farm) is A sweatshop is a working environment with very difficult or dangerous conditions usually where the workers have few rights or ways to address their situation Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour Sanitation is the hygienic means of preventing human contact from the hazards of wastes to promote health Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an Muckrakers often wrote about impoverished people and took aim at the established institutions of society, sometimes in a sensationalist and tabloid manner. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions A tabloid is a Newspaper industry term which refers to a smaller newspaper format per spread to a weekly or semi-weekly alternative newspaper that focuses on local-interest (See History of American newspapers for Muckrakers in the daily press). The history of American newspapers goes back to the 17th century with the publication of the first colonial newspapers Muckrakers were often accused of being socialists or communists. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based In the early 1900s, muckrakers shed light on such issues by writing books and articles for popular magazines and newspapers such as Cosmopolitan, The Independent, and McClure's. Cosmopolitan is the best-selling young women's magazine in the world The Independent is a British compact Newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly 's Independent News & Media. McClure's or McClure's Magazine was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century

The term muckraker now also applies to contemporary persons who follow in the tradition of that period, and now covers topics such as fraudulent claims by manufacturers of patent medicines, modern-day slavery, child prostitution, child pornography, and drug trafficking. In the broadest sense a fraud is a Deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual Patent medicine is the somewhat misleading term given to various medical Compounds sold under a variety of names and labels though they were for the most part actually Prostitution of children refers to the use of children as Prostitutes The definition of a "child prostitute" can vary depending on who is using the term Child pornography refers to material depicting Children being in a state of undress engaged in erotic poses or sexual activity

Although the term muckraking might appear to have a negative ring to it, muckrakers have often served the public interest by uncovering crime, corruption, waste, fraud and abuse in both the public and private sectors. The public interest refers to the "common well-being" or "general welfare In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment WASTE is a Peer-to-peer and Friend-to-friend protocol and software application developed by Justin Frankel at Nullsoft in 2003 that features In the broadest sense a fraud is a Deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual The public sector is the part of economic and administrative life that deals with the delivery of goods and services by and for the Government, whether national Regional In Economics, the private sector is that part of the economy which is both run for private Profit and is not controlled by the State.

An example of a contemporary muckraker work is Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed (1965) and one of the more well known from the early period is Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, (1906) which, respectively, led to reforms in automotive manufacturing and meat packing in the United States. Ralph Nader (born February 27 1934 is an American Attorney, Author, Lecturer, political activist, and independent candidate for President Unsafe at Any Speed The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile by Ralph Nader, published in 1965, is a book detailing resistance by Car Upton Beall Sinclair Jr ( September 20, 1878 &ndash November 25, 1968) was a Pulitzer The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by Author and socialist Journalist Upton Sinclair. Some of the most famous of the early muckrakers are Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker. Ida Minerva Tarbell ( November 5 1857 &ndash January 6 1944) was a American Teacher, Author and Journalist. Joseph Lincoln Steffens ( April 6 1866 &ndash August 9 1936) was an American journalist and one of the most famous and influential Ray Stannard Baker ( April 17, 1870 – July 12, 1946) also known by his Pen name David Grayson, was a American

The rise of muckraking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries corresponded with the advent of Progressivism yet, while temporally correlated, the two are not intrinsically linked. Progressivism is a term that refers to a broad school of international social and political philosophies.

Contents

History of term

U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term 'muckraker' in 1906
U. S. President Theodore Roosevelt coined the term 'muckraker' in 1906

President Theodore Roosevelt is credited with originating the term 'muckraker. Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T ' During a speech in 1906 he likened the muckrakers to the Man with the Muckrake, a character in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1678). John Bunyan (28 November 1628 &ndash 31 August 1688 a Christian writer and Preacher, was born at Harrowden (one mile south-east of Bedford The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published February 1678) is a Christian Allegory

While Roosevelt apparently disliked what he saw as a certain abundance of pessimism of muckraking's practitioners, his speech strongly advocated for the paintings of the muckrakers, as seen in his Muckrake Speech of 1906:

"There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful. "

List of muckrakers and their works

Contemporary muckrakers

Roosevelt Speech Reference Note

Theodore Roosevelt Describes the Muckrakers, 1906

"In Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward, with the muck-rake in his hand; who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor. Robert "Bob" Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. Carl Bernstein (pronounced BERN-steen ˈbɜrnstiːn (born February 14, 1944) is an American journalist who as a reporter for The The Washington Post is the largest and most circulated Newspaper in Washington D The Watergate scandals were a series of Political scandals during the presidency of Richard Nixon that resulted in the Indictment of several of Nixon's All the President's Men is a 1974 Non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists investigating the first Watergate

In "Pilgrim's Progress" the Man with the Muckrake is set forth as the example of him whose vision is fixed on carnal instead of on spiritual things. Yet he also typifies the man who in this life consistently refuses to see aught that is lofty, and fixes his eyes with solemn intentness only on that which is vile and debasing. Now, it is very necessary that we should not flinch from seeing what is vile and debasing. There is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck-rake; and there are times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed. But the man who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck-rake, speedily becomes, not a help to society, not an incitement to good, but one of the most potent forces for evil.

There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.

Dictionary

muckraker

-noun

  1. (US) One who investigates and exposes issues of corruption that often violate widely held values; e.g. one who exposes political corruption or the poor conditions in prisons.
  2. (UK) A sensationalist, scandal-mongering journalist, one who is not driven by any social principles.
  3. (US, historical) One of a group of American investigative reporters, novelists and critics of the Progressive Era (the 1890s to the 1920s)
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