MuckrakersMuckrakersMuckraking was a powerful journalistic force, whose supporters made it become so. Muckraking was the practice of writers and critics exposing corrupt politicians and business practices. President Theodore Roosevelt made the term “muck-raker” popular. He once said
The man with the muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; who was offered a celestial crown for his muckrake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake himself the filth of the floor.
Some, like Roosevelt viewed methods of muckrakers such as Ida Tarbell, Ray S. Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and Upton Sinclair as these types of people. Others saw these muckraking methods as perfectly acceptable for fighting against the industrial powerhouses. Either way, these muckrakers worked hard to arouse sentiment in the hearts of the public (Reiger 1).
Muckraking actually began long before the years of 1900-1902, when the muckraking movement is credited to have begun. Jesus was probably the first muckraker. Years later, Martin Luther exposed the corruptness of the Catholic Church. Also, early Abolitionist works–Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin and Helpers The Impending Crisis used muckraking to get a point across. However, events during the 1890s most directly paved the way for the critiques and exposures of existing conditions. This period was able to reach a limited upper class and the muckrakers were able to expand appeal to the average middle class citizen (Reiger 49-50).
One reason for the outspread of muckraking was the explosion of journalism. From 1870-1909 the number of daily newspapers circulated boomed from 574 to 2,600 and the number of subscribers from 2,800,000 to 24,800,000. With this increase, newspaper owners and editors needed new bait to reel in its subscribers. The newspaper editors wanted to replace ordinary town gossip with gossip about the latest events of the city. Therefore, in newspapers they placed the most shocking events and kept the rural mind drooling for more. As newspaper circulation grew, the large newspaper depended much less on political parties and could now even challenge them. Newspapers played on the new human interest, the concern of the wealthy with the affairs of those below them, status-wise. This “story of the poor” became the basic outline for muckraking (Hofstadter 185-188).
The publication of new newspapers could take up more than a few days. In order to keep the press busy, every town would organize a press committee and make decisions to distribute the new papers. But the editors found the meeting more difficult as newspapers were always subject to political pressure, even in such a free society as a rural country or for a city. They asked for some form of compensation and compensation for every penny of publicity published, to keep the crowd happy, and to provide the news of the day (The News) and every opportunity to publish a story. As the newspaper owners looked up at the high prices printed for the public, the reporters took the responsibility of making the most of their time. They could be called upon to be professional and work hard to avoid giving up their profession. But in the winter of 1871-1872 the newspaper board decided that the average newspaper owner would have to accept a $10 salary. They also ordered a special paper in a very small town to make up the difference between what the paper has spent in five years’ writing and the previous year’s newspaper. During those 5 years, each newspaper had to spend $100 on “drummery”, to create a new, more reliable and reliable publication.
The paper owners demanded a new and increased salary which increased the quality and efficiency of the paper. This increased the efficiency of reporting to the citizens, thus giving increased public confidence in these new sources of communication. This meant that newspapers could make use of a radio of their own, for example, or even printed for large schools. So at any rate the printing presses added to the circulation of newspapers, and news reports by telephone became one of the most important part of the daily news.
In order to maintain the freedom of speech, journalists and newspaper owners had to keep to articles in which they were able to publish. They were never allowed to express opinions or opinions of their own and therefore were forbidden to touch the public. In fact, in many newspapers, articles were used as if they had been taken from the circulation. During 1872-1873 newspapers were held up as the true public expression of the people’s views to a great extent.
In April 1877, a great new newspaper printed an article by Samuel H. Tull, entitled “The Great Revolution Will Not Die” (Henry Henry Hill, 1877-1885), which was the first one from Washington in over 100 years of newspaper coverage. This article was the first American newspaper story to use newspaper printing. It had a circulation exceeding 3,000 copies. Its central idea was to make the country look like a big American city, while still being under the control of the rulers. As a form of political satire, it included a new word, or “theocracy”, used only to express the fear of “the people”. It was intended “to make the nation look as though in an old town with bad press, but without the government and without even a few local guards, who would go out and stop the presses if there was anyone out of business.” When the story was finished it was called “An American Revolution, With No Government,” a bit of satire which, although it took out of circulation almost every town and was only half as funny by its end as it first began to look, was quickly lost.
As a result of the
The publication of new newspapers could take up more than a few days. In order to keep the press busy, every town would organize a press committee and make decisions to distribute the new papers. But the editors found the meeting more difficult as newspapers were always subject to political pressure, even in such a free society as a rural country or for a city. They asked for some form of compensation and compensation for every penny of publicity published, to keep the crowd happy, and to provide the news of the day (The News) and every opportunity to publish a story. As the newspaper owners looked up at the high prices printed for the public, the reporters took the responsibility of making the most of their time. They could be called upon to be professional and work hard to avoid giving up their profession. But in the winter of 1871-1872 the newspaper board decided that the average newspaper owner would have to accept a $10 salary. They also ordered a special paper in a very small town to make up the difference between what the paper has spent in five years’ writing and the previous year’s newspaper. During those 5 years, each newspaper had to spend $100 on “drummery”, to create a new, more reliable and reliable publication.
The paper owners demanded a new and increased salary which increased the quality and efficiency of the paper. This increased the efficiency of reporting to the citizens, thus giving increased public confidence in these new sources of communication. This meant that newspapers could make use of a radio of their own, for example, or even printed for large schools. So at any rate the printing presses added to the circulation of newspapers, and news reports by telephone became one of the most important part of the daily news.
In order to maintain the freedom of speech, journalists and newspaper owners had to keep to articles in which they were able to publish. They were never allowed to express opinions or opinions of their own and therefore were forbidden to touch the public. In fact, in many newspapers, articles were used as if they had been taken from the circulation. During 1872-1873 newspapers were held up as the true public expression of the people’s views to a great extent.
In April 1877, a great new newspaper printed an article by Samuel H. Tull, entitled “The Great Revolution Will Not Die” (Henry Henry Hill, 1877-1885), which was the first one from Washington in over 100 years of newspaper coverage. This article was the first American newspaper story to use newspaper printing. It had a circulation exceeding 3,000 copies. Its central idea was to make the country look like a big American city, while still being under the control of the rulers. As a form of political satire, it included a new word, or “theocracy”, used only to express the fear of “the people”. It was intended “to make the nation look as though in an old town with bad press, but without the government and without even a few local guards, who would go out and stop the presses if there was anyone out of business.” When the story was finished it was called “An American Revolution, With No Government,” a bit of satire which, although it took out of circulation almost every town and was only half as funny by its end as it first began to look, was quickly lost.
As a result of the
This new concern of the public demanded more from reporters. Reporters had to dig up exposйs and human-interest stories. However, reporters received more and more notice from the public eye. A reporters job was becoming more and more glamorous and held the aspirations of a growing number of young. As this occurred, those of education and those of culture sought out the reporters field (Hofstadter 189-190).
As newspapers saw a radical change, magazines observed one as well. Previous magazines received limited audiences and were run by literary men. The new magazines, emerging in 1900 were run by business promoters and reached audiences ranging from 400,000 to 1,000,000. They took a turn away from literature and began writing what greatly resembled news. These magazines, many of which by accident, began producing muckraking articles. One of the most significant of these muckraking magazines was McClures. Others included Hamptons and Pearsons. Magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Colliers produced some muckraking articles, but were not muckraking magazines in themselves (Hofstadter 190-191).
McClures magazine had already built a very reasonably sized circulation through popular fiction and historical representation. Ida Tarbell, the most popular reporter of the magazine, investigated Standard Oil originally as a way of honoring this great American business. However, Tarbell started to discover the unhappiness of the workers. She decided to research more deeply into the Standard Oil Company. Her research provided her with the story of a company whose ideas were based on “primary privileges.” These primary privileges allowed the company to operate under special permission, but more importantly operate immorally. This investigation was eventually printed in 1902 and is now considered the work that started the muckraking era (Reiger 121-125).
Besides writing her “History of the Standard Oil Company,” Ida Tarbell wrote many other muckraking works. She followed the Standard Oil Company saga to write two articles on how the company affected Kansas and two articles on Rockefeller himself. Tarbell eventually left McClures magazine because of a disagreement in business policy and formed the American with other former members of the McClures staff. During her career at the American, Tarbell published many articles including “How