International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

US President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 admonished writers who exposed the wrongdoings by business, industry, and government. Borrowing a phrase from John Bunyon's Pilgrim's Progress , he called them “muckrakers,” who only rake the muck of life and never see the stars. Irish dramatist George Bernard Shaw later put another spin on the term, making it synonymous with →  investigative reporting , saying journalists see the stars and want to cleanse the muck so others can see as well (→  Journalism, History of ). Associated with American journalism, muckraking flourished during the Progressive Era, roughly 1902 to 1912. At the time, nine-tenths of US wealth was owned by one-tenth of the population, some of whom became known as “robber barons,” with controlling interests in railroads, steel, banking and finance, and meat-packing. They were also able to gain control of some state legislators, who succeeded in erecting high protective tariff walls. Freed from foreign competition, American manufacturers could make large profits and force higher prices on the consumer. They also benefited from immigration policies providing cheap labor. Unskilled western Europeans, some of whom faced poverty, lack of education, and political persecution, became workers in the US manufacturing mills. Immigrants filled the great manufacturing cities; families crowded into cellars or tenements without windows, ... log in or subscribe to read full text