Etymology From the traditional practice of wrapping takeaway fish and chips in sheets of newspaper.
1
Derogatory, Humorous, Slang A newspaper or magazine, especially one whose news reports are considered uninteresting or unreliable and whose editorial opinions are regarded with indifference or disapproval.
Just as the sports pages are a first-read when the home team is hot and fish wrap when they are not, consumers tuned out when the market tanked, snapping off CNBC and leaving their business magazines in the to-do pile.2005 May 30, David Carr, “Bad Business For Magazines About Business”, in New York Times, retrieved 02 Dec 2020:
By now, one would expect those of us in the daily fish wrap business to be inured to repeated attempts to declare the newspaper dead and begin shoveling dirt on its face.2008 June 9, Bill Virgin, “Will you read Microsoft's obit here?”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer, retrieved 02 Dec 2020:
2 more examples
Various British papers have claimed to know her taste in breakfast-table reading (The Racing Post, the English thoroughbred journal, is said to be among her daily fishwrap), and her stomach for trackside betting (she doesn't have one).2010 June 28, Dave Feschuk, “Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, and a big horse racing fan”, in The Star, retrieved 02 Dec 2020:
[T]he "New York Times Paradox" among right-leaning news outlets: When the New York Times reports something inconvenient, it's liberal fishwrap; when it reports something convenient, hey, it's the NEW YORK TIMES.2015 February 22, Erik Wemple, “Bill O'Reilly calls ex-CBS News detractor a 'coward'”, in Washington Post, retrieved 02 Dec 2020:
We know "what it means to be Carolina", and we can only hope that Barnett learns before he writes another fish-wrap column.November 26, 2000, Paul Gardner, “From The Bleachers”, in Sunday News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), page C2: