Examples Of Muckraking
Progressives used muckraking journalism to shine a light on the problems created by industrialization. What are some examples of muckraking today? How effective are these efforts?
When President Roosevelt delivered his speech, “The Man with the Muck-rake” in April 1906, he spoke of two different types of muckrakers. He acknowledged the muckraker who knows “[t]here is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake”. This muckraker respects the “times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed.” He also warned that the muckraker “who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck rake, speedily becomes, not a help but one of the most potent forces for evil.” Both types of muckraking exist today.
Muckraking pervades social media and much of it has become a “potent force” of deception when individuals search out and publicize scandalous information in an underhanded way. Videos, personal stories, photos and screenshots on services like YouTube, Facebook, and …show more content…
Both news sources have revealed the “filth on the floor” of large companies that succeed at the cost of individuals. So far, fines and forced repayment of wages have not stopped the trucking companies from continuing to exploit drivers. Exposure and public outcry have not forced agricultural giants to stop nitrate pollution of the Raccoon River. However, it has exposed and stopped supervisors in Iowa from taking secret donations from corporate interests through the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. The lack of economic virtue in water and trucking conditions - the corruption and social injustices in their industries - has been exposed, and more change may soon
When President Roosevelt delivered his speech, “The Man with the Muck-rake” in April 1906, he spoke of two different types of muckrakers. He acknowledged the muckraker who knows “[t]here is filth on the floor, and it must be scraped up with the muck rake”. This muckraker respects the “times and places where this service is the most needed of all the services that can be performed.” He also warned that the muckraker “who never does anything else, who never thinks or speaks or writes, save of his feats with the muck rake, speedily becomes, not a help but one of the most potent forces for evil.” Both types of muckraking exist today.
Muckraking pervades social media and much of it has become a “potent force” of deception when individuals search out and publicize scandalous information in an underhanded way. Videos, personal stories, photos and screenshots on services like YouTube, Facebook, and …show more content…
Both news sources have revealed the “filth on the floor” of large companies that succeed at the cost of individuals. So far, fines and forced repayment of wages have not stopped the trucking companies from continuing to exploit drivers. Exposure and public outcry have not forced agricultural giants to stop nitrate pollution of the Raccoon River. However, it has exposed and stopped supervisors in Iowa from taking secret donations from corporate interests through the Agribusiness Association of Iowa. The lack of economic virtue in water and trucking conditions - the corruption and social injustices in their industries - has been exposed, and more change may soon