muckraker

Investigative reporters called “muckrakers” also began publishing exposés of financial power and political corruption in mass-circulation magazines like McClure’s and Collier’s Weekly, setting an agenda for political reform.

In the early 1900s, journalism, the muckrakers, became highly influential, raising awareness about many social ills, including child labor, unsafe working conditions and unsanitary food processing.

The late journalist and muckraker’s most famous book has inspired a whole subgenre of stunt memoirs.

Like the muckrakers of an earlier age, investigative journalists bring to light what the powerful often want to keep in darkness.

Even Lincoln Steffens, the celebrated muckraker who testified on his behalf at trial, wrote in a private letter: “What do I care if he is guilty as Hell.”