Factoid

"Factoid" invented by  Norman Mailer, in his book "Marilyn," published in 1973.

Factoid - "A spurious or questionable fact; especially something that is supposed to be true because it has been reported (and often repeated) in the media, but is actually based on speculation or even fabrication."

Norman Mailer himself defined "factoids" as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper, creations which are not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority."

Mailer invented the word by combining "fact" with "oid," a scientific suffix meaning "resembling or having the form of, but not identical to.

Until CNN came along, to accuse a journalist of trafficking in "factoids" was a grave insult.