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muckrake

Other forms: muckraking; muckrakes; muckraked

To muckrake is to write stories revealing scandals about politicians and other powerful people. If you want to muckrake for a living, try getting a job writing for a tabloid.

Someone who muckrakes is called a muckraker, and their job is to investigate public figures and expose anything they discover that's illegal or unethical. Many journalists muckrake during political campaigns, reporting on personal scandals, corruption, and sometimes simply gossip. The term muckrake initially meant, literally, "to rake muck," but in 1906 President Roosevelt popularized the "investigative reporting" meaning of the word.

Definitions of muckrake
  1. verb
    explore and expose misconduct and scandals concerning public figures
    “This reporter was well-known for his muckraking
    see moresee less
    type of:
    break, bring out, disclose, discover, divulge, expose, give away, let on, let out, reveal, unwrap
    make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret
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