What is a muckraker? Muckrakers were investigative journatists who wrote exposés on corruption in politics and buisness. In 1906, President Theadore Roosevelt made a speech about investigative journalists. He began calling them Muckrakers, a name which had influenced society 's views. Writers who used their exaggerated works to expose corruptions, fraud, and injustice now had their own label.
Muckraker 's Goal was to expose , understand, and promote changes.
To begin looking at whistle-blowing and speaking out against major problems in society, one should look back to where it began. Lincoln Steffens was a muckraker during the Progressive Era (1890-1920), meaning he exposed corruption in society. After graduating from the University of California, Lincoln moved to New York and became a journalist for the New York Evening Post, then soon after a managing editor at McClure's Magazine. In 1902, like many others, Lincoln promoted change and tried to give people the need for a sense of reform, earning himself the title of a muckraker. Steffens focused on corruption in politics and published “a collection of articles published from McClure’s Magazine” (Steffens 1) titled The Shame of the Cities in 1904
Lincoln Steffens A definition of a muckraker is “a person who intentionally seeks out and publishes the misdeeds, such as criminal acts or corruption, of a public individual for profit or gain. Sometimes this information is linked to powerful businessmen. Muckraker is often applied specifically to journalists” (muckraker). Lincoln Steffens exposed the power of corporations and new big businesses that were packing their pockets.
The role of the muckrakers during the Progressive Era was to expose the problems and political corruption along with investigating and reporting the news that was true so all can be aware. The way the muckrakers worked to change the ills of society and big businesses was by exposing people and the companies for what they were doing and to bring the information to the people. Three famous muckrakers during the Progressive era include but not limited to Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, and Jacob Riis. Upton Sinclair, known for his article called the jungle. It exposed the unsanitary conditions in the United States meatpacking industry, and his work led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act. This is what
From riots to invasions, many urban problems arose during the late 19th and 20th centuries. Technology was improving and it was making jobs easier and more productive but American’s were tired and weren’t working. Wage cuts were becoming more popular and economically, the U.S was falling apart slowly. Despite the problems, Americans discovered a way to replace the exhausted Americans who no longer took part in labor. Immigrants from Europe were pulled to New York in hope to find what the Americans had said they’d offer.
Americans always will try to fight back when they have something opposing them. One large example of this was prohibition. Society fought back against the government by protesting prohibition. When prohibition came about, many wanted to find a place to be able to drink and relax, creating speakeasies.
With all the money they were making, they “moved their families farther out onto curvy streets in small subdivisions named after plantations, into what passed for Hamlet’s suburbs,” (Simon, The Hamlet Fire, 22). This type of movement of white families was happening in many large cities, most notably in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. This movement became known as white flight and led to the suburbanization of cities. Suburbanization led to decreasing tax codes in the urban cities, resulting in the urban areas becoming run down and full of minorities. The minorities became the main workers at low paying jobs in the heart of the urban areas.
More than sixty-five percent of New York’s population lived in those tenements. Tenements were a large source of suffering for new immigrants and their families. This is mainly due to their unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. The tenement conditions were horrendous and appalling.
What is a muckraker? Muckrakers were investigative journalists who wrote exposés about corruption in politics and business. In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt made a speech called “The Man with the Muck Rake”, about investigative journalists. “To assail the great and admitted evils of our political and industrial life with such crude and sweeping generalizations as to include decent men in the general condemnation means the searing of the public conscience”. He began calling these types of writers muckrakers.
During the late 1800s, there were many problems with social life, the economy, and politics. Immigrants moving to America was a big cause that led to Progressive reforms. Reforms had become necessary and were made known by many Muckrakers, or progressive reformers. The president, Theodore Roosevelt, decided government had to be changed from laissez-faire because of the problems without the government's involvement in the economy. The social, political, and economical changes by those known as muckrakers would allow America to become a great reformed nation.
Muckrakers would expose the filth of 19th-century American society using rumors and accounts from victims and witnesses. This has not changed in the 21st century. Journalists today still get eyewitness accounts, use rumors, and other methods to expose corruption. In modern times we see this all the time with CEOs being exposed for fraud, or embezzlement, celebrities doing illegal
During the Progressive Era (1890 – 1920) the pen was used to combat social ills and evils and made calls for reform. Progressivism depended upon newspapers and magazines to inform the public about political corruption and social problems. During this period, there was a popular group of Americans known as the Muckrakers. They were the first investigative journalist who sought to expose evils of modern, industrial and urban capitalist society. The muckrakers got their nickname from Theodore Roosevelt, who said that crusading journalists were “often indispensable to... society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck” (America: A Narrative History, 780).
America experienced a sudden disregard of Victorian values following World War I, causing the generation of the 1920s to dramatically contrast the previous. This severe degree of change produced three major manifestations of the contradictions in the twenties. There were massive conflicts to the Jazz Age, technological advancements, and Black Migration. The contradictions of the 1920s reflect America’s conflicted state between advancement and convention, as the cultural and technological developments of the era coincide with the inability of individuals to stray from traditional norms and racist attitudes.
The cities had a lot of unskilled industrial jobs. That made it easier for the immigrants to find jobs, and make money
