muckraking

The American philosopher Hannah Arendt said, “Revolutionaries do not make revolutions. The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying on the street and then they can pick it up.” The Progressive era of American history marked an explosion of industrial revolution. Despite the apparent progress, abominable living and working conditions existed for the middle class. The journalists Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Ray Stannard Baker sought to voice the injustices of the working …showed first 75 words of 653 total…

…showed last 75 words of 653 total…events. Ms. Tarbell listened, compared facts, and threw out whatever she thought was a variation from the truth. She had such a vast knowledge of the oil industry that her construction of her historical narrative is remarkably objective. Through media correspondence, the Muckrakers raised public and government awareness to corrupt practices in government and business. The Muckrackers’ role in the evolution of media set a standard of raising awareness to controversial issues undermining American morality.