Buzz
The press today doesn’t have the best standing. Showcase one groundbreaking piece of investigative journalism, and the world will counter with a dozen more labeled as “fake news.” But it wasn’t always like this. Not too long ago, brave journalists challenged power, putting their lives and reputations at risk to reshape the world. And every so often, they prevailed.
10. William Howard Russell Reveals the Brutality of War
William Howard Russell holds the distinction of being the first true war correspondent in history. A hard-drinking, hard-living Irishman, Russell was sent by The Times of London to report on the Crimean War, a massive 1853 conflict involving Russia, Britain, France, Sardinia, and the Ottomans, which claimed nearly a million lives.
While in Crimea, Russell did the usual things like drinking, reporting on the Charge of the Light Brigade, and drinking even more. But he also did unexpected things. Things that angered the British establishment back home. Things like exposing the terrible conditions in which wounded soldiers were recovering.
Russell described how “men (died) without the least effort being made to save them” and how “the sick appear to be tended by the sick, and the dying by the dying.” The army despised these reports so much that they tried to intimidate him, even going as far as destroying his accommodations.
Nevertheless, Russell kept filing his reports and eventually made an impact. The public outcry from his stories was so powerful that the British army was forced to improve the treatment of its wounded soldiers, which paved the way for hospital reforms championed by fellow Crimea veteran Florence Nightingale.
9. The New York Times Brings Down Boss Tweed
If you think today’s politicians are greedy, be thankful you didn’t live in the era of Boss Tweed. The Democratic senator and leader of New York City’s Tammany Hall was the embodiment of corruption, almost as if a cartoonist had designed him.
Tweed had control over New York City’s legislature and much of the state beyond. He and his associates made off with anywhere between $1 and $4 billion in today’s money, only a fraction less than what Ferdinand Marcos stole during his dictatorship in the Philippines.
Tweed ran an extortion scheme through a non-existent law firm, used Irish street gangs to intimidate his rivals, and lived a lavish lifestyle of champagne and oysters while others went hungry. What finally brought his corrupt rule to an end? The New York Times.
The The New York Times of the 1870s was co-led by George Jones. Jones despised Tweed and made it his paper’s goal to expose him. In 1871, Jones got his hands on detailed records of Boss Tweed’s extravagant spending of public funds.
Tweed’s crew offered Jones the modern equivalent of $100 million to keep quiet. Jones rejected the bribe and published the details, with his articles playing a pivotal role in getting Tweed jailed in 1873.
8. Nellie Bly’s Undercover Investigation in the Asylum
Using the term “madhouse” may not be the most politically correct, but it’s hard to describe what reporter Nellie Bly uncovered at Blackwell’s Asylum in 1887 any other way. After getting herself committed, she spent 10 days living undercover among the patients, revealing a place that took in mentally healthy individuals and slowly drove them mad.
The people Bly encountered were mostly destitute and had no other place to go. But that didn’t prevent the nurses from treating them like characters in a Hieronymus Bosch painting. Bly witnessed nurses physically abusing patients, choking them, and even ripping out their hair.
The asylum also specialized in mundane yet brutal cruelty. One of the tasks assigned to the patients was to spend hours every day sitting on a hard wooden bench, staring ahead without speaking, moving, or sleeping. As Bly wrote, it was enough to drive a rational person insane.
When Bly’s exposé was published, Blackwell’s went to extreme lengths to cover up the mistreatment. They discharged the patients she had spoken to, destroyed crucial evidence, and tried to weasel out of the scandal. However, their tactics were unsuccessful. A grand jury investigation ultimately resulted in sweeping reforms that revolutionized mental health care in America.
7. Ida Tarbell Battles Standard Oil’s Monopoly (And Triumphs)
If you ever find yourself with a time machine, don’t make the mistake of going back to 1872 and crossing paths with Ida Tarbell. At just 14, she watched John D. Rockefeller Sr. obliterate her father’s business after he refused to sell.
Nearly three decades later, she authored a powerful 19-part series in McClure’s Magazine, meticulously uncovering how Rockefeller’s Standard Oil ran its monopoly with ruthless, mobster-like tactics.
Through extensive interviews, countless hours of sifting through records, and deep immersion in the world of the oil industry, Tarbell exposed staggering acts of espionage, collusion, antitrust violations, and general deceit.
She revealed how Rockefeller had partnered with railroad magnates to eliminate independent oil producers, thereby constructing a vast monopoly. Decades after he had ruined her father’s business, Rockefeller was forced to witness Tarbell’s investigation lead to the Supreme Court breaking up his beloved Standard Oil.
6. The Telegraph Unmasks Fraud in the Entire British Parliament
Not all monumental journalistic endeavors belong to the distant past. The Telegraph’s explosive 2009 exposé of the British political elite was as shocking as anything from the Victorian era. The newspaper obtained a complete list of expenses claimed by British MPs from taxpayer funds, a revelation straight out of the Boss Tweed playbook for fleecing the public.
The Telegraph revealed that MPs had submitted claims for luxuries such as flat-screen TVs, jellied eels, gardening services, home cinema systems, and even antique rugs. Some MPs sought reimbursement for silk cushions, a new house for their ducks, and memorably, an MP living in a castle submitted a claim to clean his moat.
The most egregious part of the scandal involved a practice known as second home "flipping." In the UK, MPs are allowed to claim expenses on their second home in London to avoid daily commuting from places like Cornwall or the Inaccessible Islands. The Telegraph uncovered that MPs regularly swapped which property was considered their "second" home, allowing them to claim massive amounts of taxpayer money for mortgages and renovations on both houses.
As a result of the investigation, eight MPs or peers were convicted of fraud and imprisoned. Dozens more repaid the funds they had fraudulently claimed. While the swamp wasn’t entirely cleared, it certainly faced a significant shake-up.
5. Seymour Hersh Exposes The My Lai Massacre
The My Lai Massacre stands as one of those uncomfortable moments in history when you have to accept that your side was the villain. In 1968, US soldiers led by First Lieutenant William L. Calley embarked on a search-and-destroy mission in the village of "Pinkville," hunting for Vietcong forces.
They didn’t uncover many communists, but they sure found plenty of civilians. The soldiers slaughtered villagers trying to flee, then rounded up the remaining survivors and forced them into a ditch, where Calley ordered his men to finish them off. At least 109 people were killed, though the death toll could have been as high as 500.
An investigation followed, but it was led by Calley’s own battalion, which, unsurprisingly, cleared him of any wrongdoing. When a second probe was initiated, journalist Seymour Hersh received a tip-off. After interviewing Calley’s defense team, Hersh published his account, dubbing it a "murder." The American public reacted explosively.
The Vietnam War was already deeply unpopular, but Hersh’s reporting completely obliterated whatever fragile support remained. Calley was convicted of murder, but his life sentence was commuted, and he was paroled after just five years. Calley would only offer an apology for the massacre 40 years later.
4. The Sunday Times Exposes The Drug That Crippled Children
Thalidomide proved to be one of the greatest medical catastrophes in history. Originally marketed as a safe sedative for expectant mothers, it tragically caused severe birth defects, with babies being born without limbs. More than 10,000 children worldwide were affected, with the worst-hit countries including West Germany, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Japan.
By 1961, the manufacturers of thalidomide were fully aware of its dangers and had removed it from the market. In the UK, their subsidiaries even offered a compensation fund of £3.25 million for the victims.
For Sunday Times editor Harold Evans, however, this amount was utterly insufficient to cover the suffering of 370 families. To him, it was a gross insult to those struggling with the disabilities caused to their children by thalidomide.
From 1972 to 1976, Evans’ paper waged an aggressive campaign to hold thalidomide’s UK distributor, Distillers, accountable. The outcome surpassed all expectations.
Faced with an unrelenting wave of stories about affected families and disabled children, Distillers’ shareholders grew furious. The company had no choice but to multiply its compensation offer by ten. However, The Sunday Times wasn’t ready to back down just yet.
The paper pursued Distillers to the European Court, forcing the company to admit that no proper clinical trials had been conducted. Their relentless campaign transformed how drugs were tested and marketed, not only in Britain but across the globe.
3. Watergate
Be honest. Were you really expecting anything else to claim the top spot?
Watergate stands as the most significant scandal in American history. After Richard Nixon's cronies were caught breaking into the Democratic Party's offices at the Watergate Hotel, Nixon attempted an extensive cover-up. This involved silencing witnesses and pressuring investigators to drop the case, ultimately causing him to lose the trust of his party and Congress, leading to his resignation to avoid impeachment and a potential criminal trial.
We owe much of our knowledge of this story to two individuals: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. In 1972, while working at The Washington Post, the duo became aware of the burglary. Rather than quickly covering the story and moving on, they sensed there was more beneath the surface and relentlessly continued their investigation.
By the time they wrapped up, it was 1975, and the political landscape of the United States had been irrevocably altered.
Woodward and Bernstein didn’t simply use their positions to hold the powerful accountable; they took power by the throat and forced it to confront its wrongdoings. They stood up to the elites who believed they could bypass the rules, ensuring the lesson was one that would stick.
While the press may not always win popularity contests, the stories of Woodward and Bernstein—and others on this list—remind us why we will always need them.
2. A Magazine You’ve Never Heard Of Exposes the Iran-Contra Affair
It's the most significant White House scandal that didn't lead to a president's resignation (like Watergate) or surface only after his passing (like President Harding’s infamous “Teapot Dome” scandal). The Iran-Contra affair saw the Reagan administration break its own laws, secretly selling arms to Iran and using the funds to support the brutal Contra guerrilla group in Nicaragua, violating the Boland Amendment passed by Congress.
When this bombshell came to light, it sent shockwaves through Washington. Fourteen members of Reagan's team were indicted, with 11 of them being convicted. But who was the unlikely source behind this groundbreaking story? Al-Shiraa, a little-known Lebanese weekly newspaper that had flown under the radar.
The arms sales to Iran were meant to secure the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, which was gripped by a violent civil war at the time. It was Al-Shiraa that managed to uncover the covert trades and expose the whole affair.
Their investigation led to an inquiry by Attorney General Edwin Meese, who found that the funds from these arms deals had mysteriously disappeared. After tracking the money to Nicaragua, the entire Iran-Contra affair was laid bare. This serves as a reminder that even journalists working for the smallest and least-known outlets can spark monumental change.
1. The Daily Mail Fights for Justice for Stephen Lawrence
The Daily Mail may not be the most reputable tabloid, but even a publication with its share of dubious stories can sometimes accomplish great things. In 1997, its editor, Paul Dacre, led the charge to bring the killers of black teenager Stephen Lawrence to justice. Dacre didn't rest until the perpetrators were held accountable.
Stephen Lawrence was murdered by five white youths on a London street in 1993. Racist police officers within the Metropolitan Police force mishandled the investigation, ensuring the killers evaded justice for years.
Something about this case clearly struck a nerve with Dacre. On Valentine’s Day 1997, he boldly splashed the front page of the paper with images of the five youths, labeling them “MURDERERS.” Beneath the pictures, he dared, “If we are wrong . . sue us.”
The Daily Mail’s campaign sparked widespread public interest in the murder case. It led to a formal inquiry into racism within the Metropolitan Police Force and played a key role in abolishing Britain’s double jeopardy laws.
In 2011, two of the five youths were finally sentenced to life imprisonment. As of 2017, the Daily Mail continues to fight for the remaining three to face justice.
