What influence did Muckrakers have on Modern Magazines?

During the age of New Journalism, beginning in the mid 1860's, newspaper and magazine companies became larger, richer and more competitive. Circulations of newspapers increased and news traveled quicker than ever before thanks to the invention of the telegraph. To give an edge to the news companies, they hired special correspondents across the ocean to report on news occurring in foreign countries. Ideas such as visual journalism (i.e. pictures, comics, and political cartoons) were introduced to make newspapers eye-catching. During this time conditions in the United States were grim: poor immigrants were flooding into the country seeking the American Dream and African Americans were free, but still extremely discriminated against. It was also the time of the Industrial Revolution, where children were commonly seen working in factories under horrible conditions. These harsh conditions the United States and its citizens were going through during this time inspired journalists to expose corruption and encourage change, hence the beginning of muckraking. 

Child Laborers during the Industrial Revolution

Muckraking stories sold well with newspapers and magazines, especially with exaggerated titles, eyewitness interviews, and undercover investigations. Muckraking articles main purposes were to expose any corruption, governments inefficiencies, as well as day to day crime. One undercover operation was undergone by a woman named Nelly Bly. Nelly Bly was a muckraker and journalist who was hired by Joseph Pulitzer and wrote in the newspaper, The New York Herald. One of her most famous exposing articles was published after she stayed at Blackwell's Island Asylum, acting as a mental patient. Here she witnessed and unwillingly partook in the horrifying conditions there, such as beatings, forced meals, and ice-cold baths. With this experience, she published an expose on the harsh conditions that women undertook when staying at Blackwell's, and in the end, her accounts brought in reform and money to the institution. 

Nelly Bly

Bly's book about the asylum.

     

A video dedicated to silently telling the beginnings of Nellie Bly's career.

Muckraking magazines such as, McClure's, Munsey's, and Cosmopolitan, targeted mainly the middle-class as its readers. Journalists who worked for these magazines saw it as their job to provide the public with information of corruption, make knowledgeable the imbalance of the rich and the poor as well encourage change for the underprivileged. Many muckrakers believed that the politicians and businessmen of the time were corrupt and selfish and should instead should have had the best interests of the public at heart. Some notable muckraker magazine journalists were Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Norris, and Ida Tarbell. One significant moment in muckraking history was Upton Sinclair's publication of The Jungle, which undercovered the abhorrent conditions of the meatpacking industry, resulting in the creation of the FDA, the Meat Inspection act,as well as the Pure Food and Drug Act.

A glimpse at the Meatpacking Industry during the early 1900's.

An insightful video about muckrakers existing in the Progressive Era

The popularity of revealed truths exposed by muckraking journalists and magazines influenced many modern magazines. Muckraking, at it's beginning was used to expose corruption and misdoings, but evolved into shock-value news and in some cases simply shock-value entertainment, which we see in today's magazines. Although their is a wide range of reporting today, with magazines like Time and Newsweek, who have stories that do cover topics similar to early muckrakers, their is also magazines such as The National Enquirer, who will publish half-truths, exaggerations, and sometimes even lies in order to sell their magazines. Ultimately, without muckraking we would not have the magazines we have today.

The National Enquirer