: "That Rowling would cite Mitford, poison-penned
: muckraker, unrepentant socialist, and death-fetishist
: extraordinaire, as a 'heroine' speaks volumes about her
: personal convictions."

Er...well - the impression I get from the following article is that if Mitford were still with us today, she'd be WITH us today, as a valued agent in our forum:

---

Queen Without an Heir

A Queen With no Apparent Heir

by Carl Jensen, Director of Project Censored

Muckrakers exposed corruption, captured the public's attention, and

made life a little better

Muckraking, a vituperative term coined by President Theodore Roosevelt
in 1904 to lambaste a style of journalism not to his liking, enjoyed
its Golden Age at the turn of the century.

True giants of journalism like Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, and Upton
Sinclair mercilessly exposed corporate and governmental crimes in a way
that aggravated Roosevelt, attracted national attention, and led to
reform legislation.

Steffens revealed widespread municipal corruption with his series
titled "Shame of the Cities" in the 1903-1905 period; Tarbell's series
on Standard Oil in 1902 led to the break-up of that corporate giant
monopoly; and Sinclair aroused the nation's disgust and ire with his
exposé of the meat packing industry in The Jungle in 1906.

They, and a handful of others, writing during the first decade of the
twentieth century represented journalism at its very best -- exposing
corruption and evil doers, capturing the public's attention, and making
life a little better for many people.

Unfortunately, this is one of the few periods in history that has not
enjoyed a revival. With the exception of three more contemporary
journalist/authors, investigative journalism of that earlier era has
not been seen since.

The three are George Seldes, I.F. Stone, and Jessica Mitford. Some
media observers feel that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein should be
included in such a list. But while Watergate obviously was an
important story, it was more of a singular achievement hardly
representative of a lifelong devotion to exposing crime and corruption.

Seldes, wit his exposes and media criticism in some 21 books and a
decade of In fact newsletters, filled the muckraking void between
Lincoln Steffens and I.F. Stone. Stone of course with his I.F. Stone's
Weekly, provided the first and most effective criticism of government
policy in Viet Nam.

Poison Penmanship should be required reading for all journalism students

And then there is Jessica Mitford -- a genteel and literate person.
And yet, it was she who took the writer's pen and turned it into a
poison pen, indeed a slashing sword with which she slew the modern day
dragons of fraud, falsity, and hypocrisy.

She was so good at what she did that The New York Times acknowledged
that "Mitford's pen is mightier than the sword" and Time magazine
unsuccessfully tried to diminish her work by calling her "Queen of the
Muckrakers." Not surprisingly, it was a term she cherished.

It was also a title she earned.

Her devastating expose of the funeral industry, The American Way of
Death, forced the industry, which until Jessica came along greedily
grew fat on the miseries of grieving Americans, to restructure itself
overnight. Other powerful investigative books by Jessica included The
Trial of Dr. Spock, Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking,
and The American Way of Birth.

In a series of investigative articles, Mitford single-handedly exposed
a variety of society's cherished institutions including Bennett Cerf
and other "faculty members" at The Famous Writer's School, Elizabeth
Arden's Maine Chance spa, NBC censorship, The Sign of the Dove
restaurant in New York, and absurd personnel procedures at San Jose
State University in California.

In the latter case, Jessica was the subject of an embarrassing, for the
university, attempt at censorship. she had been hired to teach at San
Jose State University as a Distinguished Professor during the fall 1973
semester. The trouble began when the University ordered MItford to
sign a loyalty oath, demanded her fingerprints, and deleted the word
"muckraking" from her class outlines. All of which she refused or
ignored.

The administration fired her and canceled her classes, actions which
would have devastated most academics. But not Jessica. She simply
ignored the administration's order. With extraordinary student
support, she kept teaching her classes although unpaid for it. She
eventually signed the oath "under duress" but forced the fingerprint
flap into court. Finally, an embarrassed University paid her and,
after the semester ended, the court ruled that the fingerprint
requirement was not enforceable.

This episode, and a number of other equally informative and
entertaining stories, are included in Poison Penmanship : The Gentle
Art of Muckraking which should be required reading for all journalism
students.

No lack of topics to investigate

Unfortunately, despite the foundation provided by the Golden Age of
Muckraking, there has been no similar era of investigative muckraking
journalism in the United States since with the isolated exceptions of
the three superstar muckrakers cited above. And one not need look far
to see that this sorry circumstance has not been for the lack of
subjects to investigate.

Project Censored, now in its 20th year, annually exposes dozens of
important issues literally screaming for hard-hitting investigative
journalism and widespread mass media coverage. But the media continue
to devote their energy to easy "junk food news" stories, such as the
O.J. trial, that don't rock the corporate or political boats.

While there are a number of reasons for the failure of the media to
cover controversial issues, one structural explanation for the lack of
contemporary muckraking may be found in Ben Bagkikian's The Media
Monopoly. As the media continue to devour one another in an apparently
never-ending quest for growth, most recently observed in the Time
Warner/Turner Broadcasting buyout, the number of sources are reduced
the stakes are heightened.

If Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, and their colleagues
were around today, I suspect one of their favorite subjects might be
the monopolization of the media and the resulting lack of true
muckraking. Unfortunately, they, and I.F. Stone and George Seldes, are
not around. But Jessica continues to hold her genteel hand firmly on
the muckrake -- yet eager to pass the rake and title on to a worthy
successor.

However, Jessica once noted that there have been no recent fundamental
changes or improvements in any aspect of American life, which led her
to conclude: "merely points up the need for a new generation of
muckrakers who will hone and perfect the craft, and will shout long and
loud enough to get people not only to listen but to do something."

I would appear that Jessica Mitford is a queen with no apparent heir.

The Making of a Muckraker

Albion Monitor October 9, 1995 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor)

All Rights Reserved.

Contact rights@monitor.net for permission to reproduce.