ticktock (1973)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

The journalistic term "ticktock" frequently appears in online media
criticism.  Wordspy defines it as "a news story that recounts events in
chronological order" <http://www.wordspy.com/words/tick-tock.asp>.  It's
been applied to book-length narratives and TV programs as well.


* ticktock, n.

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1973 W. SAFIRE in _New York Times_ 6 Sep. 37/1 In the arcane lingo of the
newsmagazine business...a "tick-tock" is a detailed chronology of events
leading up to decision.
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1989 _Washington Post_ 4 Jun. W21 (Nexis) At the heart of this thriving
genre today, however, are the books that most closely resembles daily
journalism itself: sustained narratives. They're the direct descendants of
the White and Woodward-Bernstein books -- "tick-tocks," in newspaper
parlance, that deal in weeks and months rather than minutes.
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1999 _Slate Mag._ 11 Jan. "Ticktock" was reporter-ese for a portentous
narrative about the making of some significant event, usually having to do
with the government. It had been invented decades ago by the
newsmagazines, but appropriated in recent years by the major newspapers,
which liked to scoop the newsmagazines by running big ticktocks on
Sundays.
<http://slate.msn.com/id/1000296/>
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2001 M. DOWD in _New York Times_ 16 Apr. 4-11/1 (Nexis) Blissed out
Bushies confided to reporters doing ticktocks that W. 'grilled' Condi
about the contents of the letter of regret to Beijing and 'peppered' his
staff with questions about the crew.
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* ticktock, adj./attrib.

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1985 _New York Times_ 21 Jul. 4-1/1 (Nexis) "The other press just wants to
get into tick-tock stories (about Mr. Reagan's health) and he wants to
wait a little longer to do those kinds of reflective interviews," said
Marlin Fitzwater, Mr. Bush's spokesman.
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1988 _Washington Post_ 12 Jul. D7 (Nexis) Life magazine's August spread on
shoplifting is jazzed up by a tick-tock account of sad Bess Myerson's
recent arrest with $44.07 worth of cheap jewelry, nail polish and penlight
batteries while visiting her boyfriend, currently residing in the nearby
federal pen.
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1993 _San Francisco Chronicle_ 17 Jul. A4 (Nexis) One highlight is his
tick-tock reconstruction of how ABC correspondent Jim Wooten and producer
Mark Halperin set off the Gennifer Flowers feeding frenzy based on the
now-famous unsubstantiated adultery story in the Star.
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2002 _New York Times_ 3 Sep. E1 (Nexis) There are ticktock accounts of
what happened, like A&E's "Minute by Minute: Attack on the Pentagon,"
which is repetitive, looks cheaply made and tries to trump up suspense
about whether some of the people it mentions lived or died.
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--Ben Zimmer