mud machine

English

Noun

mud machine (plural mud machines)

1. A system or program (e.g. a campaign or newspaper) considered particularly busy at throwing mud at, that is defaming, a certain target, usually for political reasons.
   • 2008, Kerwin C. Swint, Mudslingers, Union Square Press, page 82:

     In response, the Democrats cranked up their own mud machine.

   • 2012, Michele Sorice, Assessing Communication. Integrated Approaches in Political, Social and Business Context, LUISS University Press, p. 64.

     This is not the only effect of such a system of (dis)information: as many authors underlined, the subversive power underlying the functioning of the mud machine seems to be even more devastating since it achieves its goal simply extending its menacing shadow over potential objectives.

See also

• Thesaurus:defame