Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Late 20th century ·1980
Infotainment
information entertainment
- Meaning
- News or educational content produced and packaged as entertainment.
- Source words
- information + entertainment
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 1980
Background
US television industry usage. Initially neutral — describing daytime-TV news magazines — it became largely pejorative by the 1990s as cable news adopted more entertainment devices.
Late 20th century
Marketing, media, and the early internet. Infomercial, emoticon, workaholic — the coinages name phenomena of mass media and white-collar life. Several predate the decades they're associated with.
Two words, one coinage.
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