It is time for our annual rundown of the run-down journalism seen from America’s media complex: The Townhall 50. Throughout the entire year, we compile the worst examples of violations in journalism ethics in the daily “Riffed From the Headlines” column, and from this, we collate the names of repeat offenders.
In order to measure and rank the worst journalists, we apply a strict and regimented, arbitrary formula based on media reach, the output of content, impact of reporting, and influence wielded by the individual. This is the second entry, as we climb our way down to the worst journalists seen last year.
The Townhall 50 – Ranking the Worst Journalists of 2025, Part 1: #31-50
Under this rubric, we find many dropped off contention as they went independent, such as Mehdi Hasan, Jim Acosta, Joy Reid, Jennifer Rubin, and others. Bill Kristol is an example of someone with an inventory flush with content, but he has spiraled far enough to the Left that he has entered irrelevancy. So, armed with these metrics, here they are, in ascending order, the worst examples of journalism malpractice, ethics violators, and miscreants found in the media in 2025.
Behold, as we continue, The Townhall 50.
30. Natasha Bertrand – CNN: The recidivist intel community conspiracist had a tough go in 2025. She began by complaining that a Pete Hegseth confirmation had workers in the Pentagon (i.e., her sources) “terrified.” She denied that the Iran strikes were successful, based on a leaked preliminary memo, and later CNN had to scramble and lied about Bertrand saying it was a low-confidence report, when she never had. Natasha claimed Hegseth halted arms shipments without White House approval, which was disproven. She humorously said Hegseth did not deny the second shot on a Venezuelan gunboat AFTER he publicly called her story false.
29. Sam Stein – The Bulwark: Hired by the Never Trump outlet the previous summer, Stein appeared intent on proving to his new team he was capable of delivering their brand of fractured coverage. After Elon Musk asked government workers what it is they do, one employee supposedly could not respond to his email, but did have the ability to pen a lengthy complaint to Stein. He was “shaken” that Columbia students are avoiding writing about Palestine. Sam adroitly slammed Kash Patel over his collar button being unfastened at a hearing. Stein lied outright about Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion on racial profiling. He laughably claimed Jimmy Kimmel’s critics had thin skin and then shut off the comments on his post. Sam found it “fascinating” when a low-level, no-name staffer quit MAGA because he believed the Charlottesville hoax, and this supposed conservative was pro-abortion.
28. David Muir – ABC News: The network anchor loves to insert himself into stories when possible, all while preening for the camera and thinking that shields his bias. Muir defended Gov. Kathy Hochul's (D-NY) signing of a right-to-death law by bringing up her Catholicism. Muir was a leader of the White House Bawl-room whining in the press. He covered Trump’s address to the country with lengthy complaints about healthcare prices, yet no mention of Obamacare failing. When reporting on the California wildfires, Muir was wearing a fireman’s jacket, for some reason, and was spotted having it tailored for the cameras on scene.
Nice Jacket Bro. Glad you look nice and svelte with those clothes line pegs, while our city burns to the ground. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/bGQ3zvF6lr
— Jack Osbourne (@JackOsbourne) January 9, 2025
27. Peter Alexander – NBC News: The White House correspondent was undone at Karoline Leavitt’s first presser as he tried to challenge her, but was shamed when he had no details. He also went at Leavitt about DOGE cuts, and she had to ask why they hate cutting waste? Pete complained that Trump calls the media evil, yet he avoids concern when they call him Hitler.
26. Dana Bash – CNN: The afternoon news anchor was in a foggy mood most of the year, appearing in default anti-Trump mode, but seemingly unclear on how to make cogent criticisms. When the president denied that he would take over lands, she insisted that Trump did not rule out invading Greenland and Panama. After a plane crash in Toronto, her plane expert guest said the Canadian crash had no connection to Trump, then Dana turned to her panel and blamed Trump. She was schooled by Republican Rep. Tim Burchett (TN-2) on National Guard troops sent into D.C. Ms. Bash tried mightily to give Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) every chance to excuse himself for the Seditious 6 video. On one of her segments, the network delivered complaints about deceptively edited videos and overtly fake news defied itself when a Bash segment presented an AI verbal rendition of the Signal scandal text messages.
You want to know how thirsty the legacy media is for a Trump controversy? CNN just created an AI audio recording of the Signal group chat.
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 27, 2025
I'm not kidding. pic.twitter.com/yWltuTRtv4
25. Scott Pelley – CBS News: The 60 Minutes host spent much of his time lecturing us about his and his show’s importance. After the Paramount/CBS settlement with Trump, he gave a disapproving coda on the next broadcast. He turned sanctimonious about the nature of the media in a CNN interview. The press swooned when he delivered a bitter and pathetically political commencement speech. He exposed his political bias when Scott held a tongue-bath interview with career Democratic Party lawyer Marc Elias.
Scott Pelley: "It was nearly impossible to get anyone on camera for this story... Marc Elias... is the only lawyer the President has named who was willing to appear on 60 Minutes."
— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) May 5, 2025
Marc Elias: "Donald Trump hates me because I fight hard and I fight for fair and free elections." pic.twitter.com/R3nAXZ7EJD
24. Mary Bruce – ABC News: Mary was one of the staunchest media supporters of the Biden White House, so you knew she would become rather embittered with a new Trump arrival. She began the year embarrassing herself with a fawning presser with Karine Jean-Pierre on her final day. Mary tried to blame Trump for the Minnesota school shooting, despite the anti-Trump evidence from the shooter. She was so antagonistic on the Russia-Ukraine peace talks that even David Muir had to interject and steer her back to a rational position. Ms. Bruce attempted to spin the Nigerian murders of Christians as just generalized mass killings.
23. Chris Hayes – MS NOW: You got the sense of how his year would go from the inaugural, when Chris declared Trump to be a cult leader, predicting the Apocalypse. After this, he turned BlueAnon to say Trump was not running the country, but variously it was Putin, then later Elon Musk, then DOGE, who was actually in charge. He tried to help Stacey Abrams with her funding scandal, but instead had her scam exposed. He spoke with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and actually defended Hamas for storing rockets in schools. Chris was, of course, deeply bothered when Colbert was not renewed, and mad about Jimmy Kimmel, but he previously called for Tucker Carlson to be canceled. While most of his network blamed the GOP for the shutdown, Chris admitted the Dems leveraged the shutdown.
22. Donie O’Sullivan – CNN: The network’s designated extremism correspondent displayed early and often how he only looked at one side of the political aisle to blame for conflicts. He promoted a special about the divisions in the country by stating he could not find examples of extremism on the Left. The Irish partisan complained about social media decisions when he compared fact-checkers to California firefighters. Donie called those who accurately suspected a COVID lab leak as still being racist. In a disturbing interview with Taylor Lorenz, the dupes chuckled about her fangirling over killer Luigi Mangione. He dared to ask the new media at White House if they were real journalists. Immediately after the Boulder firebombing incident by a Palestinian extremist, the man who cannot seem to find leftist aggression immediately flew to Colorado to cover the Mike Lindell trial in Denver.
21. Martha Raddatz – ABC News: While a frequent fill-in for George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, the reliably biased veteran displayed her contempt for the administration repeatedly. Her derangement was on display when she asked if the new Pope would counter Donald Trump. Her desire to diminish the peace talks saw her shamed by Marco Rubio on Putin meeting. Martha was so intent on blaming the Charlie Kirk assassination on the Right that she badgered four separate guests with accusatory questions about Trump’s comments regarding Charlie Kirk’s death.
20. Brian Stelter – CNN: Perhaps the most name-checked media analyst, Brian now hovers on the list, as he both is discredited and easily dismissed, but at the same time buoys his place with the sheer volume of his impacted content. He started the year of distemper when he was mad about the fact-checkers losing their jobs. The supposed policeman against misinformation told lies about Megan Basham in his newsletter, was intemperate about press pool outlet removals, and says Trump is taking over the culture. He, of course, defended Natasha Bertrand’s flawed Iran report and ignorantly undermined it by saying “we don’t know all the facts.” He detailed how White House press members were upset about favored questions, after never covering how Biden had questions submitted to him by the same press corps.
Stelter made a forced elevator metaphor that managed to make the press look incompetent. He endorsed an alleged “free speech group” that previously wanted to silence conservatives. Brian’s selective press coverage was seen when he speculated on what an impending lawsuit with Newsmax would do to its reputation, all while completely ignoring that NBC News had just settled a defamation suit. In perhaps the most glaring example of his inability to step back and analyze his positions, Stelter was at the Super Bowl and complained that President Trump was in attendance. Then, after stating it was impossible to get away from Trump’s presence, he proceeded to obsess about Trump’s every action throughout the game.
BRIAN STELTER FROM THE SUPER BOWL:
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) February 10, 2025
“It is disgusting that Trump is here! It is impossible to get away from Trump, he demands attention!”
ALSO BRIAN FROM THE S-B:
“I can see him! Here is my play-by-play on everything Trump is doing during the game. And halftime show!!” pic.twitter.com/mjmYkjs3Vu
19. Molly Jong-Fast – Vanity Fair/MS NOW: It speaks to the depth of bias at MS NOW that Ms. Fast is regarded as a valid speaker to have appear regularly on Morning Joe. Molly said Trump eliminating taxes on tips would make the GOP angry (huh?!). She sagely said the Dems need more Chris Murphys in order to succeed. On the crime-fighting controversy, she claimed President Trump sent troops to Chicago because that is where Obama hails from. Ahead of the off-year elections, she expressed sympathy for the sexism faced by female Democratic candidates as they ran against female GOP candidates.
18. Christiane Amanpour – PBS/CNN: The perpetual Palestinian-puffing pundit was at her typical insufferable best for much of 2025. Our anti-both-sides media were perfectly cool when Christiane gave an Iranian foreign minister all the airtime to deliver his messaging. She likened the children’s show hostess, Ms. Rachel, to Mr. Rogers, after she was touting anti-Israel propaganda. Hosted a segment with millionaire Bernie Sanders so they could both claim the rich are getting wealthier from the poor. In her hysterical best, Amanpour claimed that the U.S. was militarized and she feared for her safety because giving a speech at Harvard was like going into North Korea. Christiane had to come out and apologize for saying the Israeli hostages were treated well.
She knew the hostages were starved, abused, and made to dig their own graves. She even interviewed some of them and their families.
— Canary Mission (@canarymission) October 16, 2025
And still, CNN’s Amanpour said they were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan.”
Even her apology couldn’t soften the cruelty. pic.twitter.com/9TRnUbI9h5
17. Joe Scarborough – MS NOW: Last year’s champion plunged in our poll as he and his wife, Mika, shrank under a new Trump administration. It was revealed that the duo appeared together on just 70 of the measured 124 episodes of his namesake show, with Joe absent 25 percent of the time while Mika missed one-third of their episodes. Joe had a testy interview regarding his past position on Joe Biden’s condition. Bizarrely, on Morning Joe, he rang a bell to show how far Tulsi has fallen from credibility, we think. Under Trump’s term, Joe now states that presidents should release all of their health records. He defended Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) by saying you are 400 times more likely to be murdered in Louisiana than in California, because reading statistics was hard to do. Joe declared Comey a “martyr for the rule of law,” and he lent his admonition about defying the Pope and the Bible on deportations.
16. Abby Phillip – CNN: The hostess of the nightly round table, octagon pundit sessions routinely exposes her bias in the way she frequently cuts off and/or corrects her conservative guests. She displayed her oblivious nature when she mocked Trump for complaining about the CBS reporter Scott Pelley’s commencement address, when Scott never mentioned his name, and then she and her panel discussed how it was all about Trump. Abby said the European leaders meeting with Trump about a peace deal rushed to the White House to defend Zelensky. Says Biden had no involvement in the Trump indictments. Ms. Phillip claims she needs to correct only conservatives because they do not hear the facts, in an interview with Joy Reid, of all people. In another, she declares speaking to MAGA people daily to learn about their information ignorance. While getting trounced in the ratings by Gutfeld! nightly, she tried bragging about specific metrics in her numbers, based on the other dismal CNN shows.
Look at the Desperate Lurch by Abby Phillip to Find Something to Brag About in the Dismal CNN Ratingshttps://t.co/21RZXZxg4W
— RedState (@RedState) May 1, 2025
15. Jonathan Karl – ABC News: Karl had a pretty tough go of things this year – just don’t tell him that. He acted with bravado all year long. He attempted to shame Trump for enforcing immigration with a law from the 1800s, despite it following immigration mandates from the even older Constitution. Karl speculated if tariffs would lead to us becoming a nation of cobblers(?!). He thought it was wrong that Trump pardoned supporters, but was fine with Biden pardoning his family. He was impressed by Hunter Biden’s defense of his father, for some reason. Jon went full steam on the “retribution” route repeatedly (without considering what Trump sought retribution for) and even released a book by that title. Hilariously, Karl was touted as “unbiased” by Bob Woodward in a blurb for that publication, Karl’s FOURTH anti-Trump book.
14. Ken Dilanian – NBC News/MSNBC/MS NOW: Ken had to choose between NBC News and the newly christened cable outlet, and after selecting the left-wing channel, he leaned heavily into its bias. The man who was a key reporter of the Russian collusion hoax dared to refer to Dan Bongino as a “prolific conspiracy theorist.” He said Kash Patel was “removed” from the ATF Director job when he was only serving in an interim capacity until the position was filled. Ken was completely unaware that the D.C. police chief was caught cooking the crime stats. Ken next delivered another story on Kash Patel based on rumors, claiming he used FBI agents to escort his girlfriend’s intoxicated friend home. When investigated by the FBI and then asked for references, because no one in the Bureau had heard such a thing, Ken clammed up and stood by his report. Dilanian put out the story of Tom Homan allegedly taking a $50,000 bribe, when there was no evidence of this; his report was based on anonymous sources claiming they saw a report suggesting there was a video…or an audio recording of the trans tion.
The Tom Homan Bribery Story Has the Press Convinced of His Guilt – Despite Lack of Evidencehttps://t.co/0GHW7h14XZ
— RedState (@RedState) October 14, 2025
13. Kristen Welker – NBC News: Her position on Meet the Press would have her ranked higher, but her regular display of not really trying to execute her job duties effectively pegged her lower. She was roundly embarrassed in her Trump 100-day interview. She, too, was easily dominated by Marco Rubio on her coverage of the Ukraine talks. When sitting down with the future mayor of New York City, Kristen tried getting Zohran Mamdani to call Trump negative names. In a blatant spin segment, Ms. Welker allowed Sen. Amy Klobachr (D-MN) to spin desperately over the Seditious 6 video, all while she was incapable of delivering any proof of her claims.
12. Peter Baker – The New York Times: Pete managed to let Trump completely corrupt his job duties in 2025. Early on, he pushed the Hegseth story of abusing his wife, bypassing his ex-wife categorically denying all the claims. He complained that Trump wants a compliant press, forgetting the compliance with Biden, and objected to the AP being barred from the White House press pool. In an angry entry, he was upset when Trump called some people “evil,” including the press, who perpetually call him “Hitler.” Mr. Baker became very bothered that Trump sent troops to D.C., but not to higher crime cities. First, he said there was no crime in D.C., then said the troops that arrived were not in the crime areas. (Ummm…) Pete tried to prove that the troops caused the sharp drop in D.C. restaurant reservations, but failed to see that he measured against the same week the year prior, when city-wide restaurant events had been staged. He was among the press scolding conservatives as responsible for the assassination of Charlie Kirk, saying Charlie was “a symbol of the toxic culture we are in.” Had to pretend that Trump had never been indicted to claim lawfare cases today are unprecedented.
11. George Stephanopoulos – ABC News: The morning and Sunday show host is in perpetual comatose mode with any Republican. He denigrated the peace talks by saying that simply talking with Putin is bowing to his demands. George tried to say staffing cuts led to Texas flood deaths. When discussing immigrant healthcare with Speaker Mike Johnson, George was desperate to cling to his narrative, but he was pummeled into submission by facts. He laughably stuck to his talking points to slam Trump as he tried to outduel Walmart's CEO on product prices in the marketplace. He whined about the presidential address given last month, after hailing every Joe Biden speech without seeing him drooling. George’s biggest shame was that his network had to settle the defamation suit with Donald Trump, and layoffs soon followed in the news division. He denied reality when speaking with JD Vance regarding the Tom Homan bribe story, and the details unraveled him enough that he had to cut off the feed of the vice president and throw to a commercial.
🚨 BREAKING: JD Vance destroyed ABC's George Stephanopolous so hard they CUT HIS FEED and went to break 🤣
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) October 12, 2025
VANCE: "Here's, George, why fewer and fewer people watch your program and why you're losing CREDIBILITY, because you're talking for now 5 minutes with the Vice President of… pic.twitter.com/zeQ10DUz1r
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