journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

, a hot take is a "piece of deliberately provocative

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

that is based almost entirely on shallow moralizing" in response to a

news story An article or piece is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating news, research results, academic analysis, or debate. News articles A news article discusses current or recent news of eit ...

, "usually written on tight deadlines with little research or reporting, and even less thought". It originated as a term in the industry of

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

(and in turn by shared televised

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

s of those shows to fill dead time on networks and sports-related debate shows,

sports television The broadcasting of sports events (also known as a sportscast) is the live coverage of sports as a television program, on radio, and other broadcasting media. It usually involves one or more sports commentators describing events as they happen. ...

itself), referring to the tactic of hosts picking "a topic from the sports zeitgeist, often one that has no business being discussed because the answer is unknowable", making "loud, fact-free declarations" about the topic, eliciting angry listeners to call in and providing show content. The New York Times Styles section defines a hot take as "a hastily assembled but perhaps heartfelt piece of incendiary opinionated content". The term gained popularity in

sports journalism Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the ...

in 2012 to describe the coverage of

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Tim Tebow and was analyzed in a ''

Pacific Standard ''Pacific Standard'' was an American online magazine that reported on issues of social and environmental justice. Founded in 2008, the magazine was published in print and online for its first ten years until production of the print edition cease ...

'' article by Tomás Ríos. It became increasingly used in other forms of journalism in 2014 after a piece on ''

The Awl ''The Awl'' was a website about "news, ideas and obscure Internet minutiae of the day" based in New York City. Its motto was "Be Less Stupid." History Founded in April 2009 by David Cho and former ''Gawker'' editors Choire Sicha and Alex Balk ...

'' by John Herrman to describe the economic pressure on online publishers to produce instant, often glib, responses to current events. In April 2015, ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

'' editor Ben Smith wrote on Twitter: "We are trying not to do hot takes", to explain the deletion of two articles that were critical of the site's advertisers. ''

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

''s

Jia Tolentino Jia Angeli Carla Tolentino (born 1988) is an American writer and editor. A staff writer for ''The New Yorker,'' she previously worked as deputy editor of ''Jezebel'' and a contributing editor at ''The Hairpin''. Her writing has also appeared in ' ...

argued that the articles were instead "actually in service of an idea" and that based on Herrman's definition of ''hot take'', ideas were positive alternatives to hot takes. Hot takes are often associated with

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, where they can be easily shared and commented on by both readers and other journalists, a lucrative environment for publishers that encourages recursive "meta-takes", which John West described as "a black hole from which no attention can escape". The prevalence of hot takes on social media has also contributed to the term taking on the broader sense of "an unpopular opinion" outside of journalism.

References

External links

* American English idioms Internet slang Journalism terminology Pejorative terms Sports mass media in the United States {{journalism-stub