This paper was originally written for a journalism history course At OWU.
It is logical to assume David Graham Phillips’ “Treason of the Senate,” published in 1906 in Cosmopolitan, was subject to the same trends as the rest of journalism during that period. This is a hollow statement, however, without examining what those trends are and how they are illustrated in the article. It is not enough to merely label Phillips a muckraker and be done with it; for although muckraking was an important movement at the time it was not the only theme or method to writing. It is my belief that “Treason of the Senate” is a good example of more than just muckraking.
I will break up my discussion into sections talking about the examples and influences of story and information journalism, muckraking in general, the national scope of the article and professionalism in “Treason.” Though each represents a different way of looking at the article, my discussion will tend to interrelate them, just as they were often interrelated through history.