witch hunt
A politically-motivated, often vindictive investigation that feeds on public fears. The term refers to the witch hunts in 17th-century Salem, Massachusetts, where many innocent women accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake or drowned. Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s (R-WI) search for Communists in the federal government during the 1950s is often referred to as a [...]
muckraker
A journalist who investigates the scandalous activities of public officials and businesses. The term “muckraker” was first used in a speech on April 14, 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt: “In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the [...]
fishing expedition
An open-ended investigation with no defined purpose, usually launched by one party seeking damaging information about another. These inquiries are compared to fishing because they pull up whatever they happen to catch.