churnalism
English
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Blend of churn (out) + journalism. Originally coined by BBC journalist Waseem Zakir and popularised by writer Nick Davies in the 2008 book Flat Earth News.[1]
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]churnalism (uncountable)
- (journalism, derogatory) The use of ready-made press release material copied wholesale into a newspaper article as if it were the journalist's own copy.
- 2014, Astra Taylor, The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
- New-media gossip juggernaut Gawker also pays tribute to churnalism's animating spirits: shortness, sensationalism, superficiality, and speed.
- 2014, Nikki Usher, Making News at The New York Times, page 232:
- One can see the possibility for limitless content for a 24/7 world: churnalism, hamsterization, the news cyclone—names to describe the condition keep coming.
Related terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Tony Harcup (18 February 2008), “Reporters need to ask what they’re not being told”, in Press Gazette[1]:
- The union’s then northern organiser Miles Barter said he knew a journalist who had come up with a name for this process: churnalism. I called this chap, Waseem Zakir of BBC Scotland, and asked what he meant by it. [...] but it sank largely without trace until Nick Davies started throwing it around recently.