news-grazing

(NOOZ-gray.zing)

pp.

Getting news from a number of different sources.

— n. news grazer.

Example Citation:

How could the twin American institutions of the anchor and the evening news have fallen into such seeming decrepitude and peril? The standard rap cites these factors: the fractionalization of the TV audience in the 500-channel cable-satellite media universe; the fierce and ever-expanding competition of cable news, as led by Ailes and Fox; the postmodern news-grazing habits of the young, who turn to such antiestablishment sources as the Internet and Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" for their information fix.

— Frank Rich, "The Weight of an Anchor," The New York Times, May 19, 2002

Earliest Citation:

To its credit, perhaps, The World Today seemed little different from any other CNN news hour, of which there are many generic varieties. There's something to be said for continuity, and the news grazers who have grown addicted to dipping in and out of the various shows would find nothing in The World Today to be thrown by.

— Matt Roush, "On CNN, a sluggish 'World'," USA Today, October 17, 1989

Notes:

Dietitians and other proponents of a nutritionally-correct lifestyle have been telling us for years to give up the three-square-meals-a-day habit. Instead, they say, we'll all be better off if we practice grazing (1984): eating a number of small meals throughout the day. Grazing still isn't widespread, but the word has caught on as a modifier that means "consuming something for a short time and then moving on to the next thing." For example, channel-surfing in which the TV viewer pauses for a while on each station is called channel-grazing (1988). Similarly, marital fidelity is called zero-grazing (1987).

Related Words:

grazing

information fatigue syndrome

informavore

newsfasting

pancake people

viewser

Categories:

Media and Journalism

Television