Newzak
English
Alternative forms
- Newszak
Etymology
Blend of news + Muzak, coined by Malcolm Muggeridge.
Noun
Newzak (uncountable)
- (derogatory) news reporting aiming to entertain more than to inform
- 1979, Malcolm Muggeridge, Things past, page 209:
- These pundits intone Newzak like priests each evening, every now and again breaking off for a 'message', this being the consumer aspect of Newzak […]
- 1985, Architectural Digest (volume 42, page 33)
- […] they go on, mile after mile, with ever more tarmac opening before them, and their radio alternating between Muzak, a melange of tunes, and Newzak, a melange of news items, both geared to counteracting anything in the nature of thought.
- 2003, Richard Hack, Clash of the titans, page 473:
- The thrust of the news service was unbiased reporting and presenting the complete picture. Critics reported that despite its claims, Fox News had not found a way to reinvent the news. Rather, it merely added to the saturation level. Newzak.
- 2008, John Simpson, Not Quite World's End, page 421:
- The recording must exist somewhere in the vast archives of the BBC, but it wasn't particularly enlightening as far as Mugabe's negotiating position was concerned, and the report I based on it was one of those Newzak pieces […]
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