muckraking
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishRelated topics: Newspapers, printing, publishingmuckrakingmuck‧rak‧ing /ˈmʌk-reɪkɪŋ/ noun [uncountable] TCNAMTthe 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]Examples from the Corpusmuckraking• a muckraking, gossipy magazine• A war of words continued for months, the defeated candidates complaining of unfair muckraking.