PILGER

intransitive verb (Lifestyle and Leisure) In British media slang, to treat a subject or present an investigation in a manner supposedly characteristic of the investigative journalist John Pilger, especially when this entails exposing human suffering or drawing conclusions which reflect badly on the actions of a powerful government or institution. Etymology: The surname of Australian-born investigative journalist John Pilger, treated as a verb. History and Usage: Pilger was the creation of Spectator journalist Auberon Waugh and has remained a favourite word with him and a small group of other journalists since the mid eighties. There is wide variation in the way that it is used, reflecting differing attitudes to John Pilger's own style of reporting. On the one hand (represented by Waugh and friends), it can be a highly critical and negative word, implying that the subject is being treated emotionally and with little regard for factual detail; sometimes, in fact, it is used as though it were only one step removed from outright lying. On the other hand (usually represented by the politically left-wing), there are those who admire Pilger's style and nerve and who use it with implications of compassionate reporting on behalf of powerless victims against the rich and powerful. A plethora of other words based on pilger grew up during the eighties, the commonest being the action noun pilgering and the adjective pilgerish; rarer and less established derivatives include pilgerism, pilgerist, and pilgerization. It was a brilliant piece of pilgering to claim that he knew of a miner's family in Durham which possessed only one pair of shoes, although at the time of writing he has not produced so much as a photograph of this model family for us to weep over as John [Pilger] would undoubtedly have done. Auberon Waugh in Spectator 24 Nov. 1984, p. 8 Le pilgerisme. From the English verb 'to pilger', this expresses the continuous action of going on the television and suggesting at length...that war, pestilence, governmental corruption in South-east Asia/Central America/the Lebanon etc. are essentially the fault of the Americans in general and the lack of land reform in particular. Spectator 24 Mar. 1984, p. 12 J. G. Dudley's question (Letters, 31 January) about the word 'pilgering' and 'pilgerish' is quickly answered. The verb to pilger means to regard with insight, compassion and sympathy. Spectator 7 Feb. 1987, p. 26