Mediot (media + idiot)
“Mediot” (media + idiot) is a term used by those who don’t like the media. The term dates to at least 1988, when Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Bell refused to talk to the media about his poor hitting and was quoted by the Associated Press for having said, “Get out of here, mediots!” The term “mediot” has been used frequently in sports and in politics.
“Mediot” most often refers to the members of the media, but it can also refer to people who get their information from the media.
Urban Dictionary
mediots
Contraction of the words “media” and “idiots”. Used to describe “news” reporters who continually make inaccurate reports, write stories without fact checking, run government press-releases without any follow-up questions, or provide analysis on topics they know nothing about.
by BToellner May 8, 2008
Google News Archive
3 June 1988, Tri City Herald (Tri Cities, WA), pg. D5, col. 1:
Blue Jays outfielder George Bell has not hit a home run in Toronto this season. He has seven on the road. Bell, a Spanish-speaking Dominican whose English remains choppy though vastly improved, coined a new word Wednesday night, combining media and idiots for mediots. “Get out of here, mediots,” he bellowed, sending a crowd of reporters scattering from around his locker.
Google Groups: ca.politics
Libertarians and the Mediots
The Chipmunk
5/22/92
(...)
What is needed is NOISE. Something that gets ATTENTION. Then, when the mediots (media-idiots) show up with their microphones to interview some- body, there can be numerous Lib.Reps there, ready with some prepared and practiced notes.
Google Goups: rec.autos.makers.jeep+willys
Mediots!
Gatt
11/23/98
Okay…where’s that “Liberal Media Conspiracy” guy (F150?)
You think I’m a a media-defender…
Hockey Rants
Saturday, July 01, 2006
The Hockey Rants Glossary
(...)
TERM WHAT IT MEANS
Mediots Media Idiots (ala Al Strachan)
AolNews
You Don’t Like Hockey? We Don’t Care!
Jes Golbez
Jun 5, 2007 – 10:11 PM
(...)
Unfortunately, she isn’t the only mediot (media idiot) to insert this generic line in one of their overrated columns. Any time a mediot ever talks about hockey, it’s usually in a disparaging way.
Google Books
Communication Ethics Now
Edited by Richard Keeble
Leicester: Troubadour Publishing Ltd.
2008
Pg. 100:
Nowadays, the mass media, especially the private broadcasters, are educating so-called mediots (idiots of the media or more colloquially, couch potatoes).
ChicagoNow
ENOUGH of GOP ‘Debates’ Where Mediots Show Us How Tough They Are
By publiusforum, November 14, 2011 at 1:08 pm
-By Warner Todd Huston
In the upcoming Republican primary I am not voting for Brian Williams, Brett Baier, Scott Pelly, Wolf Blitzer or any other member of the Old Media. I am trying to figure out which Republican nominee for president I might want to support. So why has every so-called debate featured mediots trying to prove to their mediots pals how tough they can be on Republican candidates instead of the Republican candidates actually debating each other?
ChicagoNow
Some Words Can Bite Back
By Aquinas wired, November 19, 2011 at 4:48 pm
(...)
This is why I never let a new word get by me without trying to put it in my own personal menagerie. ‘Mediot’ is a good example. I came across it in another ChicagoNow blog, Publius Forum. The proprietor of the blog, Warner Todd Huston, labelled the moderators of the first 8 Republican debates ‘mediots’. It was clear the word was a blend of ‘media’ and ‘idiot’. It was also clear that Huston was bashing some distinguished political reporters and commentators.
Huston names only four of these ‘mediots’—-Brian Williams, Scott Pelley, Wolf Blitzer, and Bret Baier.