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Muckraking: Investigative Journalism of the Early 20th Century

Cartoon depiction of "muckrakers"

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An Introduction to Muckraking The Progressive Era played a visible role in the elimination of corruption in the federal government and several corporations in the late 1800's. In order to spread public awareness of this corruption a new breed of journalists known as muckrakers used new tactics of investigative journalism that were effective in informing people of the issues that were not common knowledge. This new type of press was derived from the recent increase of using an editorial voice to command a newspaper and the use of eye-catching headlines, rather than information, to sell newspapers.
The term muckraker stems from a 1678 Christian allegory called The Pilgrim’s Progress. The name describes the act of sifting through the “mud” of society for to bring public awareness to issues that might otherwise go unseen. Theodore Roosevelt appreciated muckraking as a progressive tool for reform but also understood why it was met with so much resistance. This can be seen in his 1906 speech, “The Man with the Muck Rake”, in which he is quoted in saying,

“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.” (Roosevelt, 1906)

That speech was the first time the muckrakers were given a proper label; and they embraced it. Much of their goal was to not only bring awareness to the issues of urban poverty, unsafe working conditions, and political corruption; but also to evoke a rage in the public because of these issues.

Julius Chambers is considered by many sources to be the first “muckraker,” due to his full commitment to acquiring information. For his first investigative article in the New York Tribune, he had himself falsely committed to Bloomingdale Asylum in 1872 to expose rumors of patient abuse. Subsequent to the article being published there were twelve patients released from the asylum, a restructuring of the staff at the asylum, and eventually, a change in "lunacy laws" at the federal level. Chambers embodies muckraking journalism due to his continued activism after the article was published. He became an important public speaker for the rights of the mentally disabled and was the direct cause for the public opinion on the disabled population to shift away from the discriminatory and hateful place it was before.

The litigation that followed most of these journalistic investigations resulted in very important court decisions and laws such as the Food and Drug Act of 1906. This act was the direct result of Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle that described the harsh living conditions for immigrants in Chicago and unsanitary and horrific scenes that were 19^th century slaughterhouses. Among other societal impacts such as the ending of Standard Oil’s monopoly and the drafting of the first child labor laws, muckrakers were responsible for opening the floodgates for reform. This push of progressiveness was a main theme of Woodrow Wilson's first term as president.

Many of these journalists were met with heavy resistance from whichever group they were trying to expose. The resistance included threats, pay-offs, and a complete lack of cooperation. Muckrakers were often forced to carry out covert operations to get the information they desired. An example of one of these operations is the above mentioned story of the Bloomingdale Asylum carried out by Julius Chambers. The modern muckraking journalists often use illegal methods of obtaining information remotely, while the originators often had to be willing to put their life at risk for exposing powerful people doing illegal or unethical things.

The term muckraking has since become synonymous with investigative journalism and reform journalism, a term that was coined during the post-WWII civil rights era. The founders of this innovative and important style of journalism provided the inspiration for future journalists to continue to use the media as a weapon against corruption.