Movies and Muckrakers

Recently, two motion pictures featuring investigative journalism have appeared on our screens. The documentary, “Attacking the Devil” relates how The Sunday Times and its Insight team uncovered the scandals of thalidomide. The other movie, “Spotlight,” features the Spotlight team of The Boston Globe and how, under the leadership of Walter “Robby” Robinson and editor Marty Baron, the newspaper exposed how more than 200 Roman Catholic dioceses around the world employed so called “men of God” who exploited their positions to sexually abuse children. Furthermore, the newspaper revealed how the Church paid more than $3 billion in compensation, as numerous bishops were forced to resign.

Investigative journalists are reporters who investigate deeply a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political and institutional corruption, and corporate wrongdoing. They may spend months or years researching and preparing their stories. This kind of journalism is very expensive and may lead nowhere, so newspaper editors will always keep one eye on their budgets. Accordingly, editors like Evans and Baron deserve huge credit for their courage in following these stories, especially when shareholders may query the return for investment.

Arguably, the film that sets the benchmark for investigative journalism is “All The President’s Men,” the story of The Washington Post and its investigation of the June, 1972, Watergate break-in. Reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were encouraged by editor Ben Bradlee to follow the story when almost all other American newspapers believed it was a dead end. The film contains much myth, especially the supposition that The Post got Nixon. In truth, Nixon convicted himself through the White House tapes. However, The Post was on its own for much of the time as the Congressional investigation of Nixon’s administration and the Grand Jury inched slowly towards impeachment and prosecution.

Investigative journalism did not start with Watergate or thalidomide. In America, this type of journalism has enjoyed a long and distinguished history. McClure’s Magazine began its publishing life in 1893 and is credited with starting the tradition of watchdog or reform journalism, a profession coined by President Teddy Roosevelt as “muckraking.” The President used the term not as demeaning but in a congratulatory sense. As he explained, “these journalists use a rake to uncover what lies beneath the muck and reveal what exists.”

McClure’s had many famous writers who made regular contributions, including Ray Stannard Baker, Willa Cather and Lincoln Steffens. J. M. Barrie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jack London contributed stories and articles. McClure’s had competitors like Colliers but for almost twenty years, McClure’s set the standard for investigative journalism.

In the late 1890s, Ray Stannard Baker took on the United States Steel Corporation and its unfair monopolistic practices. In 1902, Ida Tarbell wrote a series of articles exposing the monopoly abuses of John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company. The President took notice of the public’s displeasure at the excesses of the Robber Barons and took action against the monopoly owners. In the face of the threat of antitrust legislation, the monopoly owners improved wages for their workers and reduced prices for their customers, as well as easing up on competition.

In 1906, McClure’s published an Upton Sinclair story about the Chicago Stockyards. The American public was outraged by the disclosures and Congress was quick to act, passing The Pure Food and Drug Act the same year. This statute remains in force. The same year, John Spargo exposed the shocking practices relating to child labour in a story entitled “The Bitter Cry of the Children.” National labour laws were passed by Congress but were savaged by Supreme Court rulings.

McClure journalists took on black civil rights, the plight of working women, tenement conditions and the boss system of city government. Sadly, McClure’s experienced defections by writing staff and went into debt. By the 1910s, it had ceased to be a force, as investigative journalism declined.

I am delighted that The Sunday Times continues to fund its Insight team. The Daily Telegraph, having uncovered the shocking practices by Members of Parliament in relation to expenses, continues to expose MPs’ wrongful practices. The Spotlight team at The Boston Globe continues to operate, for example exposing the scandals attached to the state’s spiralling healthcare costs. And occasionally, The Washington Post publishes wrongdoing in DC, especially among lobbyists.

Thomas Jefferson understood the importance of a free press. He said:

“A press that is free to investigate and criticize the government is absolutely essential in a nation that practices self-government and is therefore dependent on an educated and enlightened citizenry.”

As usual, Jefferson was right.