Muckraker was a term to describe journalists who wrote about the corrupt side of business and public life in magazines during the early 20th century. During the Progressive Era they were especially important. The journalists investigated and brought light to bad things and wrong-doing going on with businesses and life. One muckraker who was significant to the Progressive Era was Upton Sinclair who wrote the book "The Jungle" in 1906. He began research for his novel and investigated human conditions of stockyards in Chicago where he discovered terrible and extremely unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry which he went on to write about in his book. When President Theodore Roosevelt read The Jungle, he was sickened by what went on.
