Did you know where the term muckraker came from? You might be surprised

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 By Elizabeth Prata - Posted at The End Time:

I am a former journalist. I was an investigative reporter and also a features writer for both weeklies and daily newspapers for ten years. I got out of journalism and went back to education in 2010, but the profession of journalistic integrity still speaks strongly to my heart. It is the Fourth Estate and foundational to a strong democracy.

There are unscrupulous writers who call themselves journalists. They use their bully pulpit, whether it’s the newsprint or screens of their online media outlets, to damage and destroy. Some do it evilly well. They delight to damage a lot of people and besmirch reputations and they do it with dastardly conviction. Some years ago, one such muckraker got me into journalism. I did it so I could combat their negativity with credible and decent writing that edified and informed, not harmed.

Theodore Roosevelt used the word “muck-raker” in a speech he gave regarding yellow journalism, a newspaper practice that was rampant at the time he was president.

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