The term muckraker was originally a pejorative popularized by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, referencing a character from John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. While Roosevelt himself was a Progressive, he lamented that the muckrakers focused too much on societal ills at the cost of highlighting the good that his administration was doing. For their part the muckrakers were far from insulted, adopting the term as a badge of honor.
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