hit pieces
Journalistic character assassinations
A hit piece is a journalistic article, broadcast segment, or other media content designed primarily to damage someone's reputation rather than inform.
The term implies unfair or one-sided treatment—cherry-picked facts, inflammatory framing, or outright distortion in service of an agenda: The profile read like a hit piece from start to finish.
Political campaigns and media rivalries generate the most hit pieces, though the label is sometimes applied defensively to any unflattering coverage.
- hatchet jobDeliberately damaging criticism
- libelPrinted defamation
- slanderSpoken false defamation
- character assassinationDestroying someone's good name
- muckrakingInvestigative reporting on corruption
smear · defamation · exposé · denigration · smear campaign · polemics · tabloid journalism · gotcha journalism · fake news · misinformation · mudslinging · below the belt · opposition research · propaganda · takedown · vilification · attack · yellow journalism
- smear tacticssmear, smear campaign, mudslinging, attack ads, negative ad
- outrage culturerage bait, outrage porn, outrage cycle, viral outrage, virtue signaling
hit piecespuff pieces
Uncritical promotional writing
fluff pieces · balanced reporting · fair coverage · investigative journalism · hard news
hit piecespuff pieces
Uncritical promotional writing
hagiography · sponsored content · advertorials · celebrity profiles · press releases
hit, piece, hits, hitting, hitter, pieces, pieced, piecing, piecemeal