Muckrakers are best defined as individuals who:

• A. Expose social problems and advocate reform
• B. Promote corporate secrecy
• C. Write sensational fiction
• D. Conduct urban marketing campaigns

Answer: (A)

Muckraking refers to investigative journalism that exposes social problems and advocates reform. This approach emerged during the Progressive Era, when writers and journalists dug into issues like political corruption, unsafe urban conditions, labor abuses, and corporate misconduct with the aim of informing the public and spurring concrete reforms. Think of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, which exposed unsanitary meatpacking practices and helped trigger meat safety laws; Ida Tarbell’s investigations into Standard Oil, which exposed monopolistic tactics; and Jacob Riis’s photography and writings on tenement living, which mobilized housing reform. This combination of uncovering problems and pushing for change is exactly what defines muckraking. The other activities listed—promoting secrecy, writing sensational fiction, or conducting marketing campaigns—do not fit the same purpose or method, so they don’t capture what muckrakers were all about.