Not to speak ill of the dead but - from The Irish Times:
Veteran journalist and author Robert Fisk dies aged 74
Veteran foreign correspondent and author Robert Fisk has died after becoming unwell at his Dublin home on Friday.
It is understood the journalist was admitted to St Vincent’s hospital where he died a short time later. He was 74.
Fisk was one of the most highly regarded and controversial British foreign correspondents of the modern era and was described by the New York Times in 2005 as “probably the most famous foreign correspondent in Britain”.
Fisk was most known for the term Fisking. His style of reporting was very high on emotion and very slight on actual facts. To "Fisk" someone's reporting, you go through the entire piece line by line pointing out exactly what happened and you outline where Fisk deviated from the truth or spiked his writing with emotion.
From the Urban Dictionary:
Fisking
The word is derived from articles written by Robert Fisk that were easily refuted, and refers to a point-by-point debunking of lies and/or idiocies.
Here we have a great example of a fisking of a clearly biased writer.
From InfoGalactic:
Fisking
Fisking is a blogosphere slang describing a point-by-point criticism that highlights perceived errors, or disputes the analysis in a statement, article, or essay. The term originated from various blogs which have taken particular issue with Fisk's views. Many of these bloggers have responded by reprinting his dispatches on their blogs, adding their own paragraph-by-paragraph commentary, dissecting and debunking Fisk's assertions and opinions. According to The Guardian, "fisking" has come to denote the practice of "savaging an argument and scattering the tattered remnants to the four corners of the internet".
The InfoGalactic entry offers several links to additional citations of Fisking. The guy is celebrated in some circles because he promoted the One True Narrative but he is reviled for his playing fast and loose with the truth in crucial settings where the truth was sorely needed.
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