bearbaiting

1. (figurative) A bloodthirsty free for all.Examples: "All of these pivoted on the larger Problems: Not only how the press should discuss sexual morality of public officials but whether this ever should be a measure of fitness for public office; not only how the local press will allow its judgment to be pre-empted or conditioned by the Washington press, but also how news judgments, always contagious, can degenerate into bear baiting."; "But that's not the worst part of the phenomenon that the press conference bearbaiting illustrates."; "...recalls a typical scene of bear-baiting, the news-hounds tearing away at her flesh with those sex-hungry looks and sexually inquisitive questions."countablefigurativelyuncountable