Who cares who watches the watchers?
March 29, 2007 8:20 PM   Subscribe

Muckraking just ain't what it used to be. The term was first coined by T. Roosevelt in 1906. The practice has gained and lost favor over the ensuing decades. Corporations have been fighting back, suing investigative reporters (or their "producers") and winning damages. Now "Prime time exposes" are mostly about citizen on citizen crime and entrapping catching pedophiles on the prowl. This only comes to mind because I'm currently reading Theodore Rex and following the ebb and flow of his fight with combinations and trusts, and because a local reporter was arrested while 'investigating security' at area maternity wards, presumably for her signature segment of investigative journalism, "Does It Work?"
posted by lysdexic (13 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I didn't want to make the fpp any bigger than it was, but I'm struck by the difference that have been noted here and elsewhere that we're* investigating each other, not the government, not the corporations, not the people and organizations, with very few exceptions.

The one thing I liked about the '06 elections was that the internet proved an effective radar for catching some of the dirtier tricks played by candidates here and there. I want to see more of that.

-----------

*we=MSM
posted by lysdexic at 8:25 PM on March 29, 2007 [1 favorite]


Like the fpp just before this one, eh?
posted by lysdexic at 8:26 PM on March 29, 2007


Like the fpp just before this one, eh?

I don't think that's a complete sentence... what are you asking?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:55 PM on March 29, 2007


Lysdexic means "I want to see more of that, like the FPP just before this one."
posted by davejay at 9:08 PM on March 29, 2007


I didn't want to make the fpp any bigger than it was, but I'm struck by the difference that have been noted here and elsewhere that we're investigating each other, not the government, not the corporations, not the people and organizations, with very few exceptions.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

People have this misguided idea that the first and second amendments (cameras and guns, essentially) exist to protect you from your neighbors. While that is certainly one use, that's not why they're enumerated in the bill of rights.
posted by kid ichorous at 10:15 PM on March 29, 2007


I CARE! I'm gonna watch the watchers as soon as it comes out! The Watchmen rocked as a comic book series! And the movie is gonna kick major ass! Provided they stay true to the source material and present the story in its original timeframe, while capturing the 'camera angles' as close as possible to how they were originally drawn. I'm looking forward to seeing it, sink or swim.


...what?
posted by ZachsMind at 10:21 PM on March 29, 2007


Now this is begging to question as to whether the decline of traditional mudraking is because of the consequences or whether the employers of the potential mudrakers are discouraging the practice in the first place (and hence the rise of the non-professional reportage in the mudraking bee's knees).

One of y many peeves; nosey people with too much time on their hands. On the gripping hand, busybodies are mucking around with stuff that doesn't negatively impact other people. Corporate/govenerment shenanigans - different story.
posted by porpoise at 10:24 PM on March 29, 2007


I don't know Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo and affiliated sites are doing a pretty good job in my Opinion. They had a large part in breaking open the Attorney Firing Fiasco and were also involved in stooping Social Security Reform and making Trent Lott resign. I think the web has real potential as a muckraking tool since so much information is available and it's easy to post anonymously.
posted by afu at 12:20 AM on March 30, 2007 [1 favorite]


Lysdexic means "I want to see more of that, like the FPP just before this one."

....

I think the web has real potential as a muckraking tool since so much information is available and it's easy to post anonymously.


Yes, yes, yes! Anonymity is the last defense against tyrrany, and calls for a code of conduct, Real ID (thomas)and Authentication notwithstanding, I hope anonymity will always be part of the 'net.

And as far as personal/physical threats against political rivals go, it has ever been thus. Look up Benjamin Franklin Bache and check out how Salmon P. Chase got into politics.
posted by lysdexic at 4:27 AM on March 30, 2007


Great hospital PR! "See, we arrested the kidnapper. Oh, she was an undercover reporter pretending to be a kidnapper? Oh well, hopefully this will all be cleared up eventually."

But seriously, I can't see how an investigative journalist can complain if they act like a criminal, and then get arrested like a criminal. Or act like a trespasser and then get sued like a trespasser. That would seem to be one of the acknowledged risks of investigative reporting.
posted by footnote at 6:43 AM on March 30, 2007


Oh sure we’re knowingly repackaging selling maggot and fecal ridden meat. But we’re trying to make MONEY. Don’t you see? They’re supposed to tell you the truth. That’s their business. And the truth is, we do shove our filth down people’s throats. But we’re not in the health business. The newspapers lied to us though. And they’re in the truth business. They didn’t do their job, but we did do ours. And it hurts our bottom line when people say we sell filthy meat that could kill you. Oh, sure, it’s true. But it’s stopping us from making money, see? What stopped them from telling the truth? Trying to stop us. Now I ask you, is that fair?


Hell man, if my kid had gotten sick on tainted meat bad press would be the least of their worries. Is it me or do jurors not get that part?
The hospital thing is just a stupid idea tho.

But more and more there’s a lot of attacking of reporters and news organizations going on - for whatever ends. Now maybe they get it wrong sometimes, and there are a lot of flaws in big media, but this seems like getting pissed at the firemen because they show up every time the bell rings.
(No, we rang the red bell, not the blue bell!)
posted by Smedleyman at 12:37 PM on March 30, 2007


What was that? Theodore Rex?
posted by JHarris at 3:06 PM on March 30, 2007


In reading the comments on the linked site, I was struck by something...The men who are showing up at these houses to get with these teen under-aged girls were hated for their 'lusting'. Can one control who and what they lust for? They are sick for sending pictures of their 'wing-wangs' to who they think are 13 year old girls. That can be hated. But to hate someone for merely lusting...that seems...well...crazy.
posted by UseyurBrain at 9:55 PM on March 30, 2007


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