‘Muck-raking’ is an old journalism expression coined in the US around 1900 to describe two types of journalists: a) those exposing corruption and b) those making ‘a prurient inquiry into private morals’ (as per the Oxford English Dictionary). Does ‘muck-raking’ occur in Australian journalism these days – and, if so, of which kind? A ‘worthwhile pursuit of corruption’? Or a ‘prurient inquiry into private morals’? In the case of the 30-year-old allegation of rape against Christian Porter the ABC has now agreed that the evidence they collected would fail both criminal and civil standards – would fail both the ‘beyond...