Meaning of pack journalism | Babel Free

Definitions

A tendency of reporting to become homogeneous due to the reporters' habit of relying on one another for news tips, or being dependent on a single source for information.

derogatory, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“The press likes to demonstrate its power by destroying lightweights, and pack journalism is never more doughty and complacent than when the pack has tacitly agreed that a candidate is a joke. As soon as a candidate shows his vulnerability by getting flustered, or by arguing when he shouldn't argue, the pack is delighted to treat him as the class clown.”

“Problems of pack journalism [heading] […] I think the herd instinct expression is one that I would use, too. I frankly try deliberately to find out which way the herd is going and run the other way.”

“The composition of the Year of the Woman discourse and its trajectory during this thirteen-month "year" revealed nuance in the construction of women candidates as political subjects but also demonstrated the pack journalism practices that abounded during this time. The differences between local and national television and print news coverage were few and consisted specifically of patterns of gendered signifiers and discourse found within news coverage of Boxer, Braun, Feinstein, Murray, and Yeakel.”

“If talented business journalists care at all about the long-term portability of their skills in a shrinking media world, succumbing to pack journalism in the crowded general news category is no way out. It makes senior, expensive reporters expendable. That was not the direction I wanted my career to be heading.”

CEFR level