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

Muckraker Lincoln Steffens helped write the so-called campaign textbook, laying out Wilson’s virtues, accomplishments and positions.

From Washington Post • Jan. 2, 2015

Muckraker Upton Sinclair based his indictment of the American justice system, the “documentary novel” Boston, on Sacco and Vanzetti’s trial, which he considered a gross miscarriage of justice.

From Textbooks • Dec. 30, 2014

Muckraker attacks on the political and industrial establishments were a perfect fit with Roosevelt's agenda.

From US News • Sep. 24, 2014

Muckraker Lincoln Steffens put it best, after the L.A.

From Slate • Dec. 17, 2012

Muckraker: One who sits on the fence and defames American enterprise as it marches by.

From The Roycroft Dictionary Concocted by Ali Baba and the Bunch on Rainy Days. by Hubbard, Elbert