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Muckrakers the super heroes of journalism

Championing the poor and exposing the atrocities of the rich and powerful.

By Cheryl E PrestonPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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Muckrakers were investigative reporters and writers during what is known as the Progressive Era which lasted from 1890–1920. These individuals wrote about injustice and corruption in order to bring much needed changes in society. You could call them whistleblowers who published articles in magazines like Cosmopolitan and McClure's and also in books. The January 1903 issue of McClure's is considered to be the official debut for muckraking journalism.

When I put my name along with Blasting News into the search engine I was surprised to find I was listed as a journalist on the Muckrakers site as are several other unsuspecting writers I know. Somehow they compile a specific type of articles and the authors have the option to set up a profile on the site. It was troubling to see an article I wrote years ago on the website for people to read considering I am not receiving any royalties from Blasting News. This is one of the pitfalls of writing online when you cannot control your content.

These fearless journalists included Ida Wells, Upton Sinclair, Florence Kelly, John Spargo Jacob Riis, Aida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker. These men and women risked their lives and livelihoods in order to write stories about the tragic hidden conditions of the poor and powerless and to highlight corrupt wealthy businessmen. There were also those who researched the lives of the rich and famous in order to expose their private escapades and give juicy details to the public. Investigative journalists today view the muckrakers as being "early influences on watchdog journalism".

Muck is defined as dirt, waste, or rubbish so muckrakers are considered those who obtain, rake up or gather the dirt on others. Some might consider muckrakers as publishing tabloid journalism and while that might be true in some cases, most journalists simply desire to open the eyes of the public and expose scams. There is currently a website Muckrack.com that is capitalizing on the term. I found this site by accident during a web search. I used to write for Blasting News and decided to see if any of my articles were still showing up because I’m no longer getting paid for writing them.

The writings of the muckrakers was considered to be reform-oriented investigative journalism and very important. Muckrakers influenced the passage of key legislation that strengthened various protections for American consumers and workers. The work of the muckrakers called attention to the problems of the era, which included poor urban living conditions, poor industrial working conditions, and unscrupulous business practices.

If in addition to writing from your heart you also like to expose corruption, and social injustice and champion the cause of the least of these among us you might be a modern-day Muckraker. The following are examples of muckraking today. Routine practices of bilking taxpayers out of millions of dollars for illegal pensions led to a landmark pension reform in the legislature, investigative stories, federal and state inquiries, and the return of more than $3.4 million to state coffers. There was also tens of millions more in savings to taxpayers once these illegal pensions were stopped.

Imagine truckloads of the rotting flesh of pig dripping blood onto fruit that is destined to grocery stores for consumers to purchase. Thanks to muckrakes changes have been made to prevent such unhealthy practices. Exposing curruption and unsafe business practices can be dangerous because it can lead to exposing individuals in high places.

Thank God for all the journalists who are willing to put their reputations and their lives on the line in order to inform the public of unsafe, unhealthy, practices and illegal money scams.

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About the Creator

Cheryl E Preston

Cheryl is a widow who enjoys writing about current events, soap spoilers and baby boomer nostalgia. Tips are greatly appreciated.

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