puff piece

plural puff pieces

1. informaljournalismA journalistic form of puffery; an article or story of exaggerated praise that often ignores or downplays opposing viewpoints or evidence to the contrary.

   That's your first question? I thought this was supposed to be a puff piece.

   2004, Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, spoken by Steve Zissou (Bill Murray)

   2 more examples

   The magazine had sent David Blum to Los Angeles to profile Emilio Estevez, arguably the most famous of the actors in Joel Schumacher's recently released St. Elmo's Fire, and what had been pitched as a typical puff piece quickly warped into a scathing portrayal that soon became scandalous.

   2019, Bret Easton Ellis, White, Pan Macmillan, →ISBN

   While I don’t think Chozick’s profile was in any way a puff piece, I understand the anger it has generated. After all, not many mothers facing prison are given a splashy redemption photoshoot in a major paper, are they?

   2023 May 9, Arwa Mahdawi, “Elizabeth Holmes is rebranding herself as a sweet, devoted mother. Will anyone buy it?”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: cream puff piece