DOORSTEP VERB (POLITICS)

intransitive: Of a politician: to canvass support by going from door to door, talking to voters on their doorsteps; also as an action noun doorstepping and agent noun doorstepper. transitive: Of a journalist, campaigner, etc.: to 'stake out' the doorstep of (a person in the news, someone in a position of authority or power in a particular area, etc.) in the hope of getting a statement or story from them. Etymology: Formed by treating the noun doorstep as though it were a verb. This shift originally took place at about the beginning of this century, when door-to-door salesmen carried out their trade by doorstepping. History and Usage: The intransitive, political sense goes back at least to the sixties, when door-to-door canvassing took over from public debate as the most important means of winning voters to one's cause--but doorstepping and doorstepper are later developments. The media use of the verb belongs to the eighties, when investigative journalism and straightforward intrusions of privacy on the part of journalists came in for some considerable criticism. The staying power of some journalists and press photographers became so widely publicized that the transitive verb started to develop a transferred sense: a person who was determined to get a decision or change of policy on a particular issue would talk of doorstepping the person responsible in order to achieve this (in much the same way as one might speak of lobbying one's MP). The journalists are often the last ones to see him before he goes to bed or the first to see him when he gets up in the morning, spending late nights at his house after his day is over and doorstepping him next morning. The Times 13 Jan. 1988, p. 30 Some say it is time for a new approach, with bands of scientific inspectors doorstepping laboratories around the world. New Scientist 4 Aug. 1988, p. 31 Hard News...will doorstep editors and reporters, if necessary, to get a reply. Independent 5 Apr. 1989, p. 17