Persuasive Essay On Muckrakers

Muckraker: a negative, nefarious, and condescending term coined by President Theodore Roosevelt to insult the few nonconformists who have devoted their lives to exposing the corruption in society. But to some of these martyrs, such as Jessica Mitford, it is a noble and righteous title to hold. I believe that Mitford was correct and the term muckraker should be a title for these journalists to hold high in today’s society when its definition is someone who “searches out and publicly exposes real of apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business.” Historically the term muckraker has been used as a belligerent term towards the dissidents who exaggerated the true. In 1906 when Roosevelt gave his speech he was employing the term to describe the yellow journalist of the time. A yellow journalist was a reporter who was applying propaganda to attract Americans to the Spanish- American war. This war was not necessary but the yellow journalists would extensively over-exaggerate the reality of situation and stir up licentious acerbic attitudes towards the Spanish. More modernly, the gossip columns of world acclaimed magazines are examples of muckrakers. They spread unconfirmed rumors
Back in 1906 when yellow journalists were muckraking to exaggerate truths and spread lies muckraking was an inscrutably negative term. The bogus rumors spread by gossip column also leave a black mark on the term muckraking but this isn’t the truth of muckraking. The reporters who go into uncivilized and uncontrolled war zones, third world countries, and even political scandals are true heroes of society. Woodward and Bernstein’s exposure of Watergate was a vital use of muckraking techniques. They did go to extremes to discover the truth but the final result bettered society as a