muckraker

American  

[muhk-reyk-er] / ˈmʌkˌreɪk ər /

noun

1. a person who searches for and tries to expose real or alleged corruption, scandal, or other wrongdoing, especially in politics.

   The original muckrakers were the journalists who exposed child labor, sweatshops, poor living and working conditions, and government inefficiency in the early 20th century.

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Etymology

Origin of muckraker

muckrake ( def. ) + -er ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

A muckraker spreads scandals, usually for political advantage. Being a muckraker is considered sleazy. Muck can mean feces or dirt, and a rake could spread it around. Similarly, a muckraker spreads around something that's dirty in another way: news of scandals, real or fake. Muckrakers are kind of like gossips, but they're more public. Many politicians are muckrakers when they talk trash about their opponents. Newspapers can be muckrakers too, if they spread word of scandals, especially ones that are hard to prove. Muckraking means about the same as mudslinging.

Example Sentences

Even Lincoln Steffens, the celebrated muckraker who testified on his behalf at trial, wrote in a private letter: “What do I care if he is guilty as Hell.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2024

I suspect future culture historians will view "Soylent Green" in the same manner that they today regard the 1906 novel "The Jungle" by progressive muckraker Upton Sinclair.

From Salon • Apr. 22, 2023

Ida Tarbell, a pioneering muckraker turned Lincoln biographer, believed they were real.

From Washington Post • Feb. 20, 2023

Its resident muckraker, Wayne Barrett, took aim at New York developers and politicians for nearly 40 years, and his obsessive work on Donald J. Trump has become a resource for reporters covering the president today.

From New York Times • Aug. 31, 2018

By age twelve, I was a devotee of the political columnist Mary McGrory and the muckraker Jack Anderson.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove