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. [http://www.americandialect.org/2004_Words_of_the_Year_Final_Vote_.pdf] ) 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 [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12526&only] [http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12615&only] , Power Line [http://powerlineblog.com/archives/007770.php] , and Jim Geraghty at National Review Online [http://tks.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NTc3YmE5ZGQ1NmY1MjNiZmZhNDkzYjY0NzgzMDQ4NmE=] 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." [http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=ojT4kAHMxYif0J12sUAH8B%3D%3D]

External links

* [http://www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerry200409221122.asp "A Communique to the Pajamahadeen"] by Jim Geraghty, "National Review Online", September 9, 2004
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article396024.ece "What is...Pajamahadeen?"] by Oliver Kamm, "The Times", November 27, 2004
* [http://tks.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTJiMjIwNjUwODVhMDY3NDQ5N2RjZDFjNWRjZmVmNGE= "Jonathan Klein changes his mind about the Pajamahadeen"] by Jim Geraghty, "National Review Online", March 21, 2005
* [http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2005/05/24.html "It's not about Old Media versus the Pajamahideen"] by Jon Udell, "InfoWorld", May 24, 2005.