Explain the type of reputation that a muckraker would need in order to be considered a reliable source of information.

must be popular and have evidence

Explanation:

A muckraker is used to describe a journalist who focuses on attacking established institutions and leaders who he or she states are corrupt. They can be considered inside the category of watchdogs and to some extent could also be related to "whistleblowers".

In order to be considered as a reliable source of information, a muckraker will have to prove the validity of the information he or she presents. This is often very hard due to the fact that this person would have to expose its source of information and this source may expose the muckraker to be related to unethical practices in the way it obtained it.