Muckrakers Role In History

Muckrakers basically were the group of journalists and members of the press who undertook the mission of investigating and revealing all of the corruptions and wrong doings, which were persistent among the big businesses or even in the government to the public. The name “Muckrakers” was the nickname given by President “Theodore Roosevelt” to these journalists who were cleaning the muck of the American society. These were the people who used their pen as a weapon to tackle and combat the negatives and evils that existed in the society, and they were the one who spread the calls to the public of the American society to work upon and fix those issues concerning the society and economy as a whole including the political problems as well.

The muckrakers played a great role in promoting

For example: During 1902, Lincoln Steffens investigated and examined the urban politics in municipal governments and exposed the political corruption that existed and were practiced between the corrupt government and big businesses and industries in a series of article named “The Shame of the Cities” in McClure’s magazine which later was also published as a book ‘Shame of the Cities’ in 1904. Steffens in his articles urged the fellow American people to act upon these corruptions and evil politics and save their homes and cities. His work of exposing the reality to the public led the cities to begin using city commissions and city managers as a measure to end the corruption. Similarly, Upton Sinclair in considered another muckraker who investigated the large canning factories in Chicago where the workers were exposed to dangerous working conditions and sanitation was disregarded in the meat handling and packaging industry. As a result, during 1906 the Meat Inspection Act as well as Pure Food and Drug Act were