pajamahadeen
AnswerNote:
Top
pajamahadeen
Inspired by the word mujahideen, this neologism refers to a blogger who challenges and fact checks the traditional media. With origins in the controversy surrounding Dan Rather's report about George W. Bush's National Guard service that was broadcast on 60 Minutes prior to the 2004 elections, this term was deemed "most creative" word of 2004 by the American Dialect Society.
Last updated: January 13, 2005.
pajamahadeen
noun US, informal a collective term for politically motivated bloggers. [from pajama (implying a lack of professionalism; that they write from home as a hobby) + (muja)hadeen (implying guerrilla tactics). The name was coined in response to a statement from Jonathan Klein, a former 60 Minutes senior executive, in which he suggested that the typical blogger, in contrast to the professional journalist, is 'a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas']
noun US, informal a collective term for politically motivated bloggers. [from pajama (implying a lack of professionalism; that they write from home as a hobby) + (muja)hadeen (implying guerrilla tactics). The name was coined in response to a statement from Jonathan Klein, a former 60 Minutes senior executive, in which he suggested that the typical blogger, in contrast to the professional journalist, is 'a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas']
Well, last week, the insurrectionary pajama people- dubbed 'pajamahadeen' by some Web nuts- successfully scaled one more citadel of the mainstream media, CBS News. One of the biggest, baddest media stars, Dan Rather, is now clinging, white-knuckled, to his job. Not bad for a bunch of slackers in their nightclothes (Time Magazine)
| Padre Pio, overclocking, orthorexia | |
| pastorpreneur, peacocking, pebcak |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Pajamahadeen
Pajamahadeen or Pajamahideen is a portmanteau of pajamas and Mujahideen meaning "bloggers who challenge and fact-check traditional media" (according to The American Dialect Society, which voted it the Most Creative word of 2004.[1]) The word refers to news bloggers, suggesting their goals as overthrowing the news establishment. ("Mujahideen" comes from an Arabic word referring to those who participate in jihad; bloggers are said to work in their pajamas.)
It was coined during the Killian documents controversy during the U.S. presidential election campaign of 2004, in which webloggers were derided by Jonathan Klein, a former CBS News executive vice-president for vigorously challenging the accuracy of a 60 Minutes story by CBS anchor Dan Rather. Klein is reported as saying, "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of check and balances (at CBS), and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing." Webloggers who were pursuing the story such as Little Green Footballs[2][3], Power Line[4], and Jim Geraghty at National Review Online[5] took this insult and turned it into a variety of humorous self-deprecating descriptions of their form of online activism. As Andrew Sullivan noted in response to Klein's remarks: "Actually, I'm in sweatpants and a tanktop. But of course, it doesn't matter a jot what a fact-checker is wearing as long as his facts are correct. CBS's apparently aren't."[6]
External links
- "A Communique to the Pajamahadeen" by Jim Geraghty, National Review Online, September 9, 2004
- "What is...Pajamahadeen?" by Oliver Kamm, The Times, November 27, 2004
- "Jonathan Klein changes his mind about the Pajamahadeen" by Jim Geraghty, National Review Online, March 21, 2005
- "It's not about Old Media versus the Pajamahideen" by Jon Udell, InfoWorld, May 24, 2005.
 |
This article related to the politics of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 |
This journalism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
HarperCollins Neologism Dictionary
I Smirt, You Stooze, they Krump: Can You Still Speak English? © 2006
HarperCollins Publishers
All rights reserved.
Read more
