Is the great new term from Chicago Tribune writer Charles Madigan. You can read his full column here, but here’s how he explains his newly minted expression:

I am angry at the sneering use of the phrase “mainstream media,” by bloggers. I am also upset by the obvious decline in standards that would allow a ridiculous slander about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to become news for a little while until reality intervened…

People who pick up questionable things and present them as real are info-pimps.

I just invented that word. I like the sound of it.

It conjures images of parasites, laptops in place, typing up a storm and then putting it out on the street, where the gullible, thinking it’s the real deal, just gobble it up.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth with their sneaky attack on Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in the last presidential contest were info-pimps.

It would have been a lot easier if they had just said, “We hate his guts because he was anti-war and let his comrades down,” and let it go. Betrayal is really bad enough. You don’t have to pretend there is “news” involved.

Fox News and the Washington Times’ Insight Magazine online edition are my two great candidates for info-pimp status in the wake of the Obama story.

Do you live in a hut without electric, or what?

I’m not going to tell you because I don’t care to repeat such a ridiculous slander. Put it this way, if Islamic radicals visit your nightmares, take over the White House and make us abandon our Judeo-Christian values, that’s the fear it played on.

It was really stupid, and the fact that Insight attributed the whole thing to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s research people didn’t justify anything. That was just the beard.

Then the Fox News people picked it up and spread it around.

That makes Rupert Murdoch seem like the king of the info-pimps…

We don’t just sit here in this fabulous tower making stuff up.

If a reporter goes to Iraq and sends back a report, it’s news and it’s right and I know that because I know all of the people who touch it before you read it. We have a good foreign desk, completely professional, dedicated and, above all, ethical.

In fact, we have that kind of skill all over the place in layers. They are great colleagues and very serious about journalism. I would never disable their telephones.

The Tribune is an info-pimp free zone, from its snappy bloggers to boring old me.

So, you best believe it’s mainstream media and thank your lucky stars that it’s here because without it, you can’t imagine the kinds of folks you would be hanging out with.

Info-pimps trade in whatever they hear.

You want a life full of unfulfilling information? Go that way.

It’s better to hang with people who at least have a passion about checking things out.

You just feel better in the morning.

Nice piece…