Muckraking and Investigating Journalism

Muckrakers did introduce investigative reporting to the U.S. Investigative reporting was defined in class as the "reporting of matters of importance to readers." In many cases, investigative reporting includes stories or "information that subjects may wish to keep undisclosed." (Lecture, 1/27/05) The muckraking articles in the text Shaking demonstrate this. Two articles in particular, "Choking and Beating Patients" by Nellie Bly and "Lynching of Innocent Men..." by Ida B. Wells, are prime examples. In both articles, the reporters shared information with their readers that was of great importance. Bly's article is also an example of reporting information that those involved would not like exposed.

In "Choking", Bly put herself into a mental hospital to get a first hand account of how patients were treated by the staff. She witnessed patients being beaten by nurses for no obvious reason, and the superintendent pinching a patient's face until it was "crimson from the rush of blood". (Shaking, pg. 47) Although she found one doctor to be kind towards the patients in his charge, most doctors seemed to turn a blind eye to the nurses' abusive behavior. Bly wrote that after telling physicians of one particular beating, "they did not pay any attention to it." (Shaking, pg. 49) Doctors likely knew what was going on in their hospital, and chose to ignore it, probably in an effort to keep the truth secret - a key element of a true muckraking story. In this story, Bly reported on an issue that had not been known to the public, yet was important for the public to know, since most hospitals are public institutions.

Wells also reported on subject matter important to the public. When she was writing "Lynching", lynching was used as a tactic to enforce Jim Crow laws placed on African Americans by the public. Not only was lynching being done, Wells discovered, but it was used on innocent people to punish those who had violated laws.

One such innocent victim, Allen Butler, "was made the victim of a mob and hung because his son had become unduly intimate with a white girl". (Shaking, pages 60-61) Other innocent victims included Meredith Lewis, who was lynched after being acquitted by a jury of a murder. (Shaking, pg. 62)Her reporting was influential because it gave the public important information on how their laws were being enforced.

Bly and Wells used their muckraking to investigate matters that became important to the public. Bly also wrote of a subject that people had tried keeping under wraps. It is this type of muckraking that bears strong resemblance to, and led to, modern investigative reporting in the United States.

Source:
Shaking the Foundations: 200 Years of Investigative Journalism in America (Nation Books), edited by Bruce Shapiro, 2003