Muckraking

(noun)

Reform-minded American journalists who wrote to raise public awareness of chronic urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and social issues like child labor.

Related Terms

Examples of Muckraking in the following topics:

  • The Muckrakers

    • Investigative journalists view the muckrakers as early influences on watchdog journalism.
    • The January 1903 issue of McClure's is considered to be the official beginning of muckraking journalism.
    • Tweed was uncovered by muckraker Lincoln Steffens in his debut article "Tweed Days in St.
    • Julius Chambers, New York Tribune, is considered by many to be the original muckraker.
    • Many other muckrakers focused on a variety of American societal issues during the Progressive era.

  • Social Criticism

    • The end of the Gilded Age witnessed rising levels of social criticism from a new kind of investigative journalists called "muckrakers."
    • The muckrakers themselves proudly adopted the label.
    • The muckrakers appeared at a moment when journalism was undergoing changes in style and practice.
    • Muckraking publishers, such as Samuel S.
    • Julius Chambers of the New York Tribune is considered by many to be the original muckraker.

  • The Antecedents of Progressivism

    • Lincoln Steffens titled his first muckraking article, "Tweed Days in St.
    • While some muckrakers, such as Steffens, had already worked for reform newspapers of the personal journalism variety, other muckrakers had worked for yellow journals before moving on to magazines around 1900, such as Charles Edward Russell.
    • Julius Chambers of the New York Tribune is considered by many to be the original muckraker.
    • The muckrakers appeared at a moment when journalism was undergoing changes in style and practice.
    • Muckraking publishers, such as Samuel S.

  • The Muckrakers

    • The muckrakers were influenced by both eras.
    • Muckraking publishers like Samuel S.
    • The muckrakers themselves proudly adopted the label.
    • Sinclair considered himself to be a muckraker.
    • For this, the muckrakers had paved the way. "

  • Features of Progressivism

    • Known by Teddy Roosevelt as those "raking up all the muck," Muckrakers were journalists who exposed waste, corruption, and scandal, mainly in the highly influential new medium of national magazines.

  • Social Justice

    • Equally significant to progressive-era reform were the rise of crusading journalists, commonly referred to as "muckrakers. " Muckrakers, who appealed to most middle class readers, targeted economic privilege, political corruption, social injustice, and corporate abuses.

  • The Progressive Era

    • In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle, which exposed conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act.
    • In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States.

  • The Progressive Era

    • Muckrakers were journalists who encouraged readers to demand more regulation of business.

  • Conclusion: The Successes and Failures of Progressivism

    • "Muckraking" journalists such as Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens and Jacob Riis exposed corruption in business and government along with rampant inner city poverty.

  • The Rise of Realism

    • Realist journalists, also called muckrakers, included Jacob Riis and cartoonist Art Young.