Muckraker Research Paper

On May 15, 1985 John E. Hauser moved a plastic box on top a computer table at his college; little did he know it was a bomb. When it went off, the shrapnel in the box severed fingers, blinded him, took off a chunk of his arm, and ruined his dreams of becoming an Airforce fighter pilot. This is just one of the many attacks the Unabomber did over the course of 17 years. Ted didn’t really care who he was attacking as long as he made an impact. Ted sent 16 bombs out to stop technology from advancing and for people to become dependant upon it.

Investigative journalism has brought to light the many horrible things that were happening behind closed doors. Without investigative journalism and muckrakers, when would we have ever become aware of what was happening. Up until the early 1900’s, food and medicine industries were not as regulated as they are today. Muckrakers such as Upton Sinclair experienced the reality of meat packaging plants. He found how unsanitary the food was handled and how horribly the workers were being treated. Sinclair was disappointed that people only got to realize that their food was being mishandled rather than how harsh the workers were being treated. He famously quoted “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach.”(gilderlehrman.org). Samuel Hopkins Adams exposed that patent medicines were dangerous. He explained that they were harming people rather than helping them

Coined “mudrakers” by President Theodore Roosevelt, journalists wrote investigative articles exposing social, economic and political scandals. The writers detailed the many horrors of poverty, urban slums, dangerous factory conditions, and even child labor. No one was safe from the “mudrakers”, their articles took aim at the food and insurance industries, prostitution and political bribery and corruption. All which satisfied the American public’s appetite for scandal. Not unlike the sensationalism used by media today to help influence public

Journalism has been around since the 1700’s so you can only imagine how many journalists have existed since then. According to the New York Film Academy, “Robert Upshur “Bob” Woodward is an American journalist who is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated journalists of this century after having exposed the Watergate scandal during President Nixon’s time in office.” Woodward is considered to be one of the top 12 most influential journalists of today.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the print revolution gave power to hundreds of journalists across the nation. What was written carried more power than ever before, and writers, especially Upton Sinclair and Ida B. Wells, were using their skills to expose certain companies and social groups who had hidden atrocities. These writers held more power than what they thought as their works are still recognized today.

In the Progressive Era, influential journalists wanted to expose the government and big business of their flaws to American citizens with using factual and proven evidence against them. Muckrakers, who are journalists that seek out the truth of corruption among the government and business leaders, became well known due to how many people were amazed by the revealed injustices and dishonesty in the

But Hofstadter argues this transition towards a more popular government was preceded by muckraker journalists who played a pivotal role in exposing and distributing news. Even though muckraking journalism existed prior to 1900, their influence was not as extensive as in the Progressive Era. Muckraking journalists were

Joseph Pulitzer- American newspaper editor and publisher who helped establish the pattern of the modern newspaper. In his time he was one of the most powerful journalists in the United States.

One journalist who was widely recognized across America was Charles Edward Russell. Charles Edward Russell played a significant role in voicing his opinions and bringing light to this issue. He wrote a series of articles

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary a muckraker is someone who “searches out and publicly exposes real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business” (“Muckraker”). During the 1890s to the 1920s, muckrakers were a group of American journalists who exposed the corruption in society and informed the public about important social issues. The term muckraker originally came around when President Roosevelt gave a speech about reporters who exposed political and corporate corruption ("Who Are the Muckrakers?”). There have been so many muckrakers in American history whose works have been the cause of new laws and changes; some of the most important and famous of these muckrakers were Upton Sinclair, Samuel Hopkins Adams, and Jacob Riis.

Upton Sinclair wasn’t always known as a muckraker. He worked hard to make sure his writing helped people. He wanted to help people in poverty. What started as one article turn into a bestseller book. Although most people believe Lincoln Steffens is the best muckraker, Upton Sinclair is the best because his book, The Jungle, helped save lives.

Rising international hostility and intensifying wars became a source of aesthetic influence in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Due to multiple wars across the world and dwindling military support in America, news media and propaganda artists found inspiration in exploring the political and social controversies both in America and around the world. Newspaper publishers, such as the New York World and the New York Journal thrived in analyzing and reporting progress made in the fight to obtain power in smaller countries: “Two newspapers locked in a fierce competition for readers, William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, strove to outdo each other with sensational headlines about every Spanish atrocity in

He became a small time editor but grew to be much bigger. He eventually made a popular article on corruption in a city and grew in popularity. Eventually he got an offer to work at McClure’s to write about the same exact thing,(Steffens). Steffens grew big traction and his voice was being heard. He started

Her work for this magazine caught the attention of Samuel Sidney McClure, the founder of McClure’s Magazine, who was looking for writers for his new monthly publication. Tarbell was hired as an editor in 1894 and quickly became McClure’s Magazine‘s most successful writer. She became very successful due to her series on Abraham Lincoln which nearly doubled the number of magazines sold. Later on, a whole new generation of investigative journalists called “muckrakers”, given the name by President Theodore Roosevelt, began a campaign to expose corruption in businesses. Theodore Roosevelt gave these opinionated journalists the pessimistic label ‘muckrakers’ in a speech in 1906. Despite this negative label, Tarbell campaigned with the other journalists.

Later on he was torn between his desires to act, to paint, and to write. Journalism eventually won the upper hand, and in 1902 joined staff of the Atlanta (Ga.) News (1. "Donald"). Two years later he became an editorial writer for the Atlanta Journal where he met Joel Chandler Harris, who in 1907 offered him a post as associate editor of Uncle