muckraking
noun /ˈmʌkreɪkɪŋ/
/ˈmʌkreɪkɪŋ/
[uncountable] (informal, disapproving)- the activity of looking for information about people’s private lives that they do not wish to make public
- the sort of journalism that specializes in political muckraking
Word Origincoined by President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech (1906) referring to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and the man with the muck rake.