Chapter 6: Muckraking

Virginia Westerns Community College

    In the late 1800's and early 1900's corporate power was at an all time high with big business having near limitless power and control over the government. The common worker was poor and had no way to make the injustices he suffered known. It was during this time however, that a kind of journalist known as a "muckraker" came to be.

    The term muckraker was coined by President Roosevelt to describe reporters who focus on the less glamorous elements of society. The muckrakers had a profound impact by exposing how deep the corruption of the gilded age ran, with products known to be unsafe being sold to populace and bribes being given all the way up to the senate. These giants of journalism; Steffens, McClure, Tarbell, Sinclair and Bok shown a light on these foul practices and created real, lasting social change that we still benefit from today.

   This chapter represents something that is lost in much of today's journalism; the will to say what is necessary. Today we move once more toward unregulated corporate power taking advantage of the common man but unlike then much of our news is owned by these same companies so they don't report on their immoral practices. While there are still those who will report on these injustices I fear for their ability to get this information to the common people.

Chapter 1: Sowing the Seeds of Revolution

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Boston_Massacre_high-res.jpg/514px-Boston_Massacre_high-res.jpg

    America is a nation built upon a revolution. Revolutions however, do not start on their own. Convincing the populace to rebel requires people who can inspire. The spurring of the colonies into revolution can be traced back to two writers who used the power of the press to rally people to their cause.; John Adams and Thomas Paine.

    John Adams was a writer for the Boston Gazette who used the paper to spread his anti-British message. He would write stories that villainized  the British soldiers, claiming them to be criminals and drunkards. He turned an accidental fight between British soldiers and protestors into the Boston massacre claiming that the soldiers killed the colonists in a planned attack, going so far as to have a drawing of the event made so that even the illiterate would know what happened. However Adams had no compunction about falsifying stories in order to advance his agenda, which is a major breach in journalism ethics. Despite his stories not being truthful they succeeded in riling people up and pushed them towards revolution.

     The other journalist that is credited with inciting the revolution is Thomas Paine. Paine was a writer for the short lived Pennsylvania Magazine who went on to write Common Sense an essay that is said to be responsible for inspiring hundreds of thousands of colonists to support independence. Paine's writing was also used to boost troop morale, with Crisis essays that promised glory to those who joined the revolutionaries and shame to those who didn't. Paine's ability to appeal to the masses allowed him to shape the future of his country.