Word.ws English Dictionary

ambush journalism

ambush journalism noun: a tactic used by a news reporter who intercepts an uncooperative individual in an unexpected place, such as a sidewalk or parking lot, in order to pose questions to that individual and elicit spur-of-the-moment responses.

Noun

ambush journalism (uncountable)

  1. A tactic used by a news reporter who intercepts an uncooperative individual in an unexpected place, such as a sidewalk or parking lot, in order to pose questions to that individual and elicit spur-of-the-moment responses.
    • De Niro spokesman Stan Rosenfield said the actor was the victim of a new breed of "rat crew" video paparazzi who provoke celebrities into scenes and then sell the footage to high-paying tabloid television shows. "When our forefathers wrote the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press, they...1995 October 9, George Rush, “Raging De Niro flips lid over vid”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 20 Apr 2014
    • Television entrapment isn't new: the "Dateline" segments echo Mike Wallace's hidden-camera ambushes on "60 Minutes" in the 70's. . . . But the program's success seems to be inspiring others to try their own brand of ambush journalism.2006 May 17, Alessandra Stanley, “Gotcha! 'Dateline' Paves a Walk of Shame for Online Predators”, in New York Times, retrieved 20 Apr 2014

Examples of ambush journalism in a sentence

  • "When our forefathers wrote the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press, they did not know about rat video packs who engage in ambush journalism," Rosenfield said.1995 October 9, George Rush, “Raging De Niro flips lid over vid”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 20 Apr 2014:
  • Weir's quarry, Kevin Trudeau, complained about "ambush journalism" when the correspondent stopped him on a Zurich street.2013 June 10, David Bauder, “ABC's 'The Lookout' a new outlet for 'Nightline'”, in Businessweek, retrieved 20 Apr 2014:

Questions about ambush journalism

What does ambush journalism mean?
Ambush journalism means a tactic used by a news reporter who intercepts an uncooperative individual in an unexpected place, such as a sidewalk or parking lot, in order to pose questions to that individual and elicit spur-of-the-moment responses.
How do you use ambush journalism in a sentence?
"When our forefathers wrote the Constitution guaranteeing freedom of the press, they did not know about rat video packs who engage in ambush journalism," Rosenfield said.
What part of speech is ambush journalism?
Ambush journalism is a noun.

Words near ambush journalism in the dictionary

  1. ambuscadoes
  2. ambuscados
  3. ambush
  4. ambush bug
  5. ambush bugs
  6. ambush journalism
  7. ambush marketing
  8. ambush predator
  9. ambush predators
  10. ambush television
  11. ambushable

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ambush journalism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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