muck ‧ rak ‧ ing /ˈmʌk-reɪkɪŋ/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
the practice of telling or writing unpleasant and perhaps untrue stories about people’s private lives, especially famous people:
Two of the candidates complained of unfair muckraking during the election campaign.
—muckraking adjective
—muckraker noun [countable]