notebook dump
n. An article or book that is dense with facts but light on story, as though the writer simply copied everything that was in their notebook.
Examples
2004
There are, however, pages and pages on the AOL-Time Warner merger and its impact on characters like Gerald Levin, the former chief executive of Time Warner, and Richard Parsons, his successor, along with several discussions of an inconsequential couple of days Turner spent at Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy in March 2001. In the news business, this is referred to as a notebook dump.
—Seth Mnookin, “Turner Classic,” The New York Times, December 05, 2004
1999
His reporting skill seems to outshine his writer's art. Much of "Uncovering Clinton" reads like what reporters call "a notebook dump" — a confusing mass of names, dates, places and allegations."
—Harry Levins, “Newsweek reporter was scooped on his own scoop,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 11, 1999
1996 (earliest)
Pre-election notebook dump.
—Eric Zorn, “It Is Mopery to Flick That 'IC' From Democratic,” Chicago Tribune, November 03, 1996
Notes
Thanks to James Callan for suggesting this phrase.
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