adj. Capable of or susceptible to being influenced by biased or slanted information.
2001
Imagine that bin Laden remains on the run, his continued freedom inspiring Muslim fundamentalists across the Arab world.
Even in the clever political jargon of Washington, it is a stretch to consider such an outcome 'spinnable'. White House spokesmen may talk up the destruction of his wider network or his funding base and declare the threat over but, to paraphrase late president Lyndon Johnson, bin Laden is the 'Raccoon skin that must be nailed to the wall'."
Even in the clever political jargon of Washington, it is a stretch to consider such an outcome 'spinnable'. White House spokesmen may talk up the destruction of his wider network or his funding base and declare the threat over but, to paraphrase late president Lyndon Johnson, bin Laden is the 'Raccoon skin that must be nailed to the wall'."
1990 (earliest)
Certainly, fairness and balance are needed to cover news. But objectivity is now 'ruthlessly turned against the press,' Blumenthal wrote. 'The most objective, the purest reporter is the one with the fewest ideas of his own. He becomes the prey of political actors with ideas, even if they are only tactical. The supposedly unspinnable journalist becomes spinnable; the objective press is the phantom press.'
The verb to spin, "to convey information or cast another person's remarks or actions in a biased or slanted way so as to favorably influence public opinion," has been part of the political slang lexicon since the late 1970s. So it's a bit surprising that this word doesn't show up on the language radar until 1990.