Transcript Investigative Journalism or Muckraking?

Project work done by:
Natalia Gordeeva
Fira Ismailova
Dinara Jarulina
Supervisor: Svetlana V. Titova
Svetlana Shapka
2007
Marina Yurovskaya
What is Investigative Journalism
and Muckraking?
• There is no more important contribution that we
can make to society than strong, publicly-spirited
investigative journalism.
– Tony Burman, editor-in-chief of CBC News
• Term given to 1920's and 30's
investigativejournalism that focused on
uncovering "hidden" but public information that
exposed corrupt public figures and dishonest
companies.
Theodore Roosevelt
President Theodore Roosevelt
responded to investigative
journalism by initiating legislation
that would help tackle some of the
problems illustrated by these
journalists. These included
persuading Congress to pass
reforms such as the Pure Food and
Drugs Act (1906) and the Meat
Inspection Act (1906).
Investigative highlights
Broke Senator Bob Packwood
sexual misconduct story
• 1992-93 Washington Post - sexual
misconduct allegations against
Senator Bob Packwood.
• National discussion about sexual
misconduct in the workplace, and a
historic 3-year Senate investigation
that resulted in his forced resignation
from the United States Senate after
the Senate Ethics Committee voted
unanimously to expel him.
Exposed Clinton accuser
Kathleen Willey’s lack of
credibility in the Lewinsky matter
• 1999 year-long Nation
magazine investigation
revealed that Kathleen
Willey, who accused
President Clinton of
sexual harassment, was
in fact seeking an affair
with the president.
San Francisco center keeps
muckraking alive
• "Investigative reporting is
a money-loser for
journalistic corporations,"
said Burt Glass,
executive director of the
center. "It's expensive,
stories may not pan out,
and you make a lot of
enemies."
Jack Anderson as muckraking
leader
He began his reporting career at the
age of 12, editing the Boy Scout page
for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City.
He was a foreign correspondent during
World War II, but it was shortly after
the war that he began working for
Drew Pearson on the column that
would become his life's work,
Washington Merry-Go-Round.
Alternative Journalism in the
Twentieth Century
• Throughout its history,
alternative journalism has dug
up the news that others would
wish to see buried. It has
spoken truth to power. It has
stuck up for the common person
and worked for the public good.
It has used the craft of
journalism as an agent of social
change.
Muckraking Movement
• The period between 1900 to 1920
saw the emergence, growth and
demise of alternative journalism.
• Upton Sinclair is well-known for his
principle: "It is difficult to get a man
to understand something when his
salary depends on his not
understanding it." which has been
quoted in many political books,
essays, articles, and other forms of
media.
• The years between 1920 and 1950 were a
transition period for the genre. George
Seldes - an independent journalist and
author - made a bold attempt to singlehandedly revive the muckraking
movement with his weekly newsletter.
• The years between 1950 and 1960 were a
crucial incubation period for the era of the
underground press of the 1960s and early
1970s.
• The second golden age of alternative journalism
took place between 1960 to 1975. The political,
economic and technological circumstances that
made the first golden age - the Muckraking era
from 1900 to 1915 - possible were again present
in the 1960s.
• The period from 1975 to the present saw a
maturation of the alternative press, as it
struggled to stay relevant in yet another
conservative age.
SUMMING UP
• As long as there is a
majority media that serves
the interests of the
powerful rather than the
people, there will be a
place for dissident voices.
That place will be the
alternative press.
A Golden Age For Global
Muckraking
In the last 20 years, we have witnessed a
surge in investigative reporting like we have
never seen before on such a global scale. In
Asia, Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe,
and the former Soviet Union, journalists are
exposing sleazy politicians, greedy
companies, and a whole range of criminals,
scam artists, and scoundrels. The late 20th
century and the early part of the 21st may yet
be known as the golden age of global
muckraking.
Future of Investigative Journalism
on the Web
• Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for
Public Integrity, one of the nation’s premier
independent, non-profit journalism organizations.
•Investigative journalism is not valued anymore
because all media – TV and newspapers – are not
as popular.
•Online news on www.google.com or
www.yahoo.com provide mere facts and not indepth journalism.
For more information
• www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/jinvestigative.
htm
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3720/is/
200603/ai_n17175665
• www.globalinvestigativejournalism.org
• www.muckraker.org
• www.ire.org