Shattered Glass: Investigative journalism as a ”muckraking-lite” (Part 3)

Tabloid-styled journalism

As it was mentioned before, investigative reporters are not satisfied about the situation of twenty-first century investigative journalism. Journalists must have a purpose to be free and fair watchdogs of society, but professors of journalism also state that now there are many tabloid-styled stories wrongly labeled “investigative”, which purpose is to entertain. These entertainment-oriented articles are what another investigative journalist J. H. Dygert has called “muckraking-lite”.

Serious investigative journalism (in the print media, television or on the Internet) often is stained with faults, lies or less serious and poorly executed articles, as we can see in the real story of Stephen Glass. “Network television and cable are awash with investigative news programs, from sensationalistic and ethically suspect to the more journalistically sound”, affirmed J. L. Aucion (2007). We can say that investigative journalism in the early years of twenty-first century seems burdened by silly stories on TV news shows, newsroom budget crunches and speechless government officials using terrorism as an excuse of hiding the information from the public. 

So, it is thought that investigative journalism has become a defining characteristic of the news media with the purpose to entertain, muckrake and lie.