OPINION

Year End Journalism Mayhem Recognition: The Townhall Heckler Awards – Media Industry Division

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jan 03, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

As we flip the calendar, it is customary to look back at the prior year before wadding it up and properly tossing it into the non-recyclables bin (because there is so much we do not want circulating once again). Here at "Riffed From The Headlines," it has been a year of compiling the worst and misbegotten in the media landscape – and, wow – has it been a truckload of distemper and malpractice from the news environment! 

So much so, that we can deliver the (dis)honors seen in the press in stages, awarding the malpractice with a column-specific honorarium dubbed – "The Heckler Awards." 

For this round, we will be recognizing media outlets acting in a form of dysfunction in a specific way regarding items in the news cycle. So, without more pause, here are the notable foibles seen from sources in 2023!

The Gas Stoving America Honor – THE WASHINGTON POST

Early in the year, this was a notable item in the news – that gas stoves are a nefarious danger inside our homes. Never mind that we have been cooking on these appliances for generations without much incident, suddenly, these were a problem. Richard Trumpka Jr. hit the Sunday shows with his claims, and the next day, the press parroted his dark message. Then the blowback began, and the press scrambled, straining to alter the narrative to say conservatives were manufacturing a culture war.

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Most notable in this desperation was the Washington Post. It covered the story extensively – in two conflicting ways. It echoed the administration initially, then attempted to turn this as being concocted by hysterics on the right. It went from declaring the administration was considering a ban on the stoves to saying this was all a conservative conspiracy – ON THE SAME DAY.

The Honor for Comprehensive Commuting Coverage – CNN

To say that the press was titillated about Trump's indictments becoming a reality is an understatement. The collective exuberance was palpable, and possibly nothing explains this better than CNN providing expansive LIVE coverage of Trump…traveling. Things began with a live shot of the front gate at Mar-a-Lago, where, for much of the morning…nothing happened. Eventually, though, Manu Raju and CNN got the money shots they were hoping for – Trump was driving!

Now, full disclosure – no one here at RFTH went to journalism school, so maybe we are missing out on the historic significance of someone commuting. But the up-to-the-minute coverage of things was so vital that there was a dramatic cutaway, so we were granted the live shots of Trump's plane lifting off, with the camera trained on the horizon as it faded from view. Just…just magnificently historic coverage there…we are told.

The Refusing to Get It Correct Honor – BBC

While the collective news industry has been horrific in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas War, the BBC has distinguished itself by its abject defiance to do better. The outlet has been among those refusing to use the term "terrorist" for reporting on terror, even as it later called a shooting in Brussels affiliated with the war "a terrorist act." The outlet was also among those excitedly reporting Israel bombed the Gaza hospital in blatantly incorrect fashion. Its international reporter later expressed zero regrets about his reporting – despite having declared on the air the hospital had been flattened entirely in authoritative fashion.

Not having learned from this, the BBC later declared the IDF had been targeting Arabs and doctors as it invaded the hospital when the opposite was true; the IDF was bringing in Arab speakers and doctors to aid those inside.

The See-No-Evil Honor – WASHINGTON POST

While the bulk of the news industry prefers to pretend that there is nothing to show proving Joe Biden has any connection to the shenanigans with his son – financial or otherwise – the gang at WaPo distinguishes themselves with the ardent fashion they insist that there is no story to be found. They cling so proudly to the canard of "There's No Evidence!" that the paper should bolster its flagging income by selling beer koozies and other items with the phrase printed boldly. The coverage is the sort with little to no curiosity and explains the lack of merit like you would expect to find from a defense team.

What makes this practice so infuriating/hilarious is that the evidence revealed has shown Joe Biden lying about things repeatedly. When shown direct evidence while on a podcast, Philip Bump lost his composure. Matt Viser went the desperate route of even saying some of the evidence was derived from "Hunter's purported laptop." Not only has WaPo confirmed the laptop is legitimate, Viser has been using it as a source for Biden fluffer pieces.

The Chasing Off the Audience Honor – MSNBC

In something of an upset (CNN was heavily favored), the network managed to distinguish itself with its anti-Israel coverage. On the weekend of the initial Hamas attacks on Israel, MSNBC distinguished itself with decidedly anti-Israel-pro-Hamas coverage. It led to a quick result.

While all the networks benefited from the outbreak of war with higher ratings (even NewsNation), MSNBC managed to have a sharp drop of nearly 30% as people walked away from its intolerance. One of the main antagonists, Mehdi Hasan, found himself stripped of two programs he hosted as a result.

The Mounting That Dead Horse Honor – ROLLING STONE

This summer, there was some outrage over Jason Aldean's single "Try That In A Small Town" because speaking out against violence and other illegalities is…wrong, we have to guess? Leading the media charge to cancel Aldean and sink his fortunes was Rolling Stone, with something approaching two dozen entries in the span of a month regarding this effrontery to our culture. It is safe to say its unique focus did not accomplish the goal, given Aldean's song went to the top of the national singles chart.

The Florida Fervor Honor – MIAMI HERALD

Down here in the Sunshine State, there is definitely a level of derangement in the press regarding Governor Ron DeSantis, and the outlet most afflicted with DDS is the Miami Herald. The imbalanced coverage of the man is purely driven by emotion, and the abandonment of journalistic diligence is a frequent side effect. 

The paper kicked off a wave of national censorship hysteria when it claimed a book in one school had been "banned." The facts? The volume had been moved from the elementary side of the library to the middle school side. It also provoked another media response by reporting the anti-woke law has rules against making white students uncomfortable.

In a dose of ridiculousness, after being embarrassed in another article, when DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern posted the "I was murdered" meme with the paper's logo, the Herald's senior editor contacted him about a copyright violation.

The best, however, came regarding the new immigration law the governor passed. Herald reporters contacted the governor's office to ask why so few arrests had taken place as a result of the law, and they were instructed that they were looking at stats from only one law enforcement division, the highway patrol. They were told that many other authorities arrest illegals, and the numbers reflect this. After some snide remarks about providing them with this evidence (in effect, asking them to do the investigating for the reporters), the journalists were given a link to a story showing far more arrests taking place – from their own newspaper.

Townhall Media

The Elimination of the Wrong Jobs Honor – SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

The issue of artificial intelligence use in publishing is a problem for many reasons, one being the threat this brings to the job security of writers, as well as many journalism ethics issues. Sports Illustrated (SI) was found to be using AI in its content, and things turned disturbing. The tech website Futurism found that the sports outlet was not only using AI to generate content but had been hiding this by posting false headshots and bios for the nonexistent "writers," which were also AI-generated.

SI attempted to hide these details and pass responsibility on to a third-party content vendor. But ultimately, this attempt to save money – and squeeze out writer jobs – has caused the removal of other jobs. As a result, this exposé led to the firing of the CEO, the Media President, the COO, and the lead legal counsel.