OPINION

The Townhall 50: Tabulating the Worst in Journalism in 2023 – The Top (Bottom) 10!

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Jan 12, 2024
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

We have reached that time to compile our list of the journalists who distinguished themselves over the past year with their departure from journalism ethics, repugnant reportorial displays, soporific punditry, and just plain bad performances throughout the year. 

First, we had to compile examples. Then, measure things based on performance, influence, bias, reach, and work other factors into a complex formula to rank accordingly. It was laborious, but – unlike many on this list – we took the time to research and explore the topics. 

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See the Townhall 50 Entries #31-50 Here

See the Townhall 50 Entries #11-30 Here

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And now, for the exemplary (distaff) portion of the list, as we have reached the apex (nadir) of journalistic excellence (sloth) from 2023. Here are the Top (bottom) 10 journalists of the year.

10. Matt Viser – The Washington Post White House correspondent is essentially a PR flak for the Bidens. This would be considered innocuous enough, except beyond the fluff pieces, Viser also obscures basic facts and news stories in the process. Imagine a familial controversy involving the Trump clan being reported like this: "The president's son had a complex, even tortured relationship with the 'Biden brand.'"

After proof of Joe being in the room as Hunter was striking his illicit business deals (in defiance of Joe calling these charges "lies" for years), Viser was content to parrot Hunter's lawyer and say these revelations do not count because Hunter was under his drug addiction at the time. Then, when proof of payment to Joe from Hunter's shell company was revealed (again, defying years of Joe denying such), Viser contorted the facts enough that his logic required mustard. 

The most glaring example of Viser's hackery was seen in his look into Hunter's tortured challenges. In referencing the evidence the GOP has cited in its investigation, Viser refers to Hunter's "alleged" laptop as if its existence is still in question. Not only has Matt's own paper verified the computer already, but what makes this attempt so pathetic is that Viser himself has used this very computer as a resource for his fluffer reports on the Bidens! He was actually awarded by the WHCA for for his intrepid use of the Hunter Biden laptop to paint a glowing personality profile of the Biden family.


9. Joe Scarborough – Maybe as much a choice for the entirety of the "Morning Joe" cast of names, still Scar-Joe is the ringleader of this liberal daybreak circus that bears his name. Tuning in became arduous after a while as you get the same delivery on a near-daily basis; loud anti-Trumpism, stern rooting for Biden, perpetual recommendations on how the administration or campaign should behave, and then all manner of scorn heaped at Republicans in general. Yet through it all, Scar-Joe is comical in that when he becomes most emphatic it is usually when he is the most incorrect. He claims if Trump is reelected he will jail opponents and execute them, basing this on his record. Of…not ever having done so, Joe?

In an interview, Scar-Joe compared Senator John Fetterman to President Abraham Lincoln and UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill – not due to accomplishments, but because they too had been sick. He stated conservatives would lose their minds if Justice Sonia Sotomayor had a financial scandal – all while oblivious to the fact that Sotomayor had a financial scandal in the news. Joe's brilliance was on display as he complained about Biden's campaign staff, saying people in their 80s are too old to be running the campaign – of the 80-year-old president. He was deeply skeptical about the Colorado Supreme Court removing Trump from the ballot. Oh, wait – the very next day, he called the move "the most pro-democratic thing that can be done" and "this is the ultimate protectorate of that democracy."

8. Oliver Darcy – CNN's bequeathed media critic is consistently focused on Fox News and full of excuses when the rest of the media act up inappropriately. During last year's WEF meetings in Davos, he complained that conservatives were spreading conspiracies about the talks, as they accurately revealed what was being said. While trying to defend PBS against charges it is publicly funded, he managed to prove that it is precisely that. After the massive malpractice of the media complex claiming Israel bombed a hospital, Oliver tried to explain it was a result of "the fog of war," as it was the press generating the fog. When a photographer in Gaza was seen as a Hamas sympathizer, Darcy came out to address what he called a "smear," even though his network cut ties with the journalist when it was revealed.

When White House flak Ian Sams issued a 14-page directive for the media on how to properly fight back against the GOP investigation of Joe Biden, they pushed it first to Darcy, knowing the "objective" media reporter would be seal-clapping with approval.

The media expert seems to also struggle with ratings. He claimed that when news nets saw a surge in viewers after the Hamas attack on Israel, CNN came out on top; it lagged behind the others in third place. After Chris Licht was fired as CEO, Darcy said the network "slid" into third place, while the reality is it already languished in that distant position at the time Licht took over.

7. Chris Hayes – The perplexing part of the Hayes aspect in journalism is that the man is clearly sharp of mind, but he is so marinated in partisanship that he strains to make news items work into his preconceived pigeonholes. When Rep. Jamaal Bowman yanked the fire alarm in Congress, there was Chris explaining it away. He tries gaslighting on the economy by stating the bad inflation today is not as bad as last year; therefore, the economy is doing great. When the Republican debate brought up the subject of fentanyl coming across the border, Hayes thought he had an own, saying that the drug is not coming over the border as much as it is flooding into the country through our ports and checkpoints. (That's not good news, Chris, if Biden is not addressing it.) As it was learned that news outlets had been using reports from stringers who were embedded with Hamas, Hayes groused this would potentially lead to endangering journalists – these men actually endangering Jewish citizens was not so much a concern.

After the hurricane hit Florida, Hayes presented it as Governor Ron DeSantis being at fault for rejecting Biden's climate relief package, literally suggesting he could have bought hurricane protection for the state.

6. Nicolle Wallace – The box wine-mom hostess has one of the more popular shows on MSNBC, despite a delivery of someone compelled to a community service seminar. Her droning prattle is made more unlistenable by her persistent, daily focus on Trump, like suggesting we would have a more dangerous world under Trump despite having a safer one just three years ago. She laughably insisted they do not elevate Trump's hateful rhetoric on her show, then proceeded into a segment dedicated to his hateful rhetoric.  

She sympathetically had on the leader of the Tennessee Capitol mob to complain the GOP instituted "mob rule" by…passing rules to limit his mob-like behavior.

Nicolle did provide one of the better moments of the year this summer when, after tittering and blushing through her fawning interview on set with Joe Biden, he turned into President Silver Alert, wandering off on camera before the interview had wrapped up.

5. Glenn Kessler – While one is tempted to say WaPo's resident does not even try at his job – much like Daniel Dale – in truth, he works very hard to not do his job. Glenn is the singular embodiment of the fact-checker serving as a Democrat tool. 

Glenn achieved some history when he butchered a fact-check with his own fact-check and was Community Noted on it, then after complaining and clarifying, that tertiary fact-check was also in need of correction. 

When he tried to disprove Texas Senator Ted Cruz on guns, he was promptly corrected with actual data. He accused Trump of doxxing the daughter of a judge presiding over his case, oblivious that she had already been a feature in the press. 

In trying to disprove Gov. Ron Desantis' claim that Democrats support abortion up to birth, Glenn deflected with statistics on the rarity of the procedure but never actually "corrected" DeSantis because Dems are on record saying abortion with no restrictions. 

His feature of the year, however, was in a piece in which – FINALLY – he addressed all of the fabrications that have been spun by Joe Biden! Well…sort of, but not really. In a lengthy piece detailing many of Joe's fables, Kessler unspools a long list of euphemisms for Joe Biden's fanciful fabrications. He could never bring himself, however, to ever say Joe Biden "lies," "lied," or "is a liar."

4. Philip Bump – It has been a tough year for Philip Bump, not that he is likely to have noticed. Or maybe he doesn't care? Either case, he has been a regular source of mirth in 2023, largely due to his ironclad clinging to the belief that "There's no evidence!" regarding Joe Biden and Hunter. It was so bad that when he appeared on a podcast, he flipped out and walked off as a result of being presented with said proof he claimed does not exist.

He cited a study that alleges conservatives fall for false Covid claims, ignoring at least half a dozen major lies about the pandemic the press pushed out. Phil defended China and slammed conservatives by proposing the use of the term "Chinese communist" was a hateful slur. In attempting to debunk claims made about Mark Zuckerberg's spending on elections, Bump instead managed to prove that it was, in fact, designed for Democrat voter turnout. In response to the DeSantis-Newsom debate, Bump actually attempted to fact-check the San Francisco "poop map."

3. Jen Psaki – Since segueing back over to the cable news side of life, the former White House Press Secretary has become the same Democrat mouthpiece, only in more laughable fashion. Bear in mind, she is allegedly a journalist as she has interview segments where she and John Kerry stroll the National Mall and get ice cream, or she goes bike riding with Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock. She claimed in an interview to welcome on Republican politicians, but they have yet to actually materialize on her show, as her team was shown to even reject Sen. Ted Cruz outright.

When Mike Johnson rose as Speaker, Jen took issue with his religious foundation after always touting the Catholic faith of Joe Biden. When she interviewed Hillary, the former first lady spouted election denialism without any pushback. She struggled for days over the comment that Democrats do not support abortion up to birth; she was undone due mainly to her own support of that very legislation. 

2. Ben Collins – The NBC News "dystopian beat" reporter generated laughter when the Annenberg Center honored Collins with the Walter Cronkite Award, specifically citing his coverage of the Club Q shooting – which he got 180 degrees incorrect. (After days spent accusing anti-trans violence without evidence, the shooter was later revealed to be non-binary.) More significantly, this "reporter" has barely worked. He has not filed anything of import with NBC News for months and has a total of four bylines with the network this year. This was possibly for the better – in defending Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg from claims he was backed financially by George Soros, Collins points to an article stipulating the two men never met. That same article stated Soros backed Bragg financially. 

That is not to say Ben has not been busy. He spent the bulk of the year complaining regularly about Elon Musk and Twitter – mostly ON Twitter. He called Musk a liar when his lawsuit against Media Matters was not filed the second the courthouse opened but later that same day. 

He spent days begging for attention from Musk, then began insisting he was working on a massive story on the man. Once this piece came out, this was as laughable as it gets. His BIG exposé on Elon Musk was the billionaire only purchased Twitter when he allegedly followed the plan from a former Trump staffer's website written by an anonymous person – for no discernable reason. This article turned up in the court case regarding Musk's already-in-the-works purchase, and furthermore, reading the piece shows this supposed purchase blueprint was actually a plan on how others should oppose Musk if his purchase goes through.


1. Mehdi Hasan – When it comes to the sheer volume and consistency of wrongness throughout 2023, none did it better (worse?) than Mr. Hasan. When Nikki Haley announced her campaign, Mehdi claimed she had changed her birth name (Nikki is her middle name) so that people would regard her as "a nice conservative woman with a tan." He mocked the DeSantis office for focusing on a report about rice farming, ignorant that Florida is one of the few US states with rice growers. Mehdi became cranky when he was corrected on getting gun crime stats wrong, complained Daniel Penny was treated kindly by the press as they ignored Jordan Neely was the subway attacker, was bothered when Elon Musk visited the border crisis the press tried to ignore, and he tried mocking conservatives over petty culture war grievances at the very same time the left was barking about the movie "The Sound of Freedom" and attempting to cancel Jason Aldean.

A favorite of ours was Hasan lecturing that no Democrat governor would – like MTG in New York – travel and insult a Republican-run city. He said this at the exact same time California Governor Gavin Newsom was touring Florida and insulting Ron DeSantis. 

This all culminated in the Fall with the grievous terror attacks on Israel. Mehdi Hasan was leading the sympathetic charge of support for Hamas on the air. While all the other cable news networks enjoyed rocketing ratings covering the war, MSNBC managed to lose 33% of its audience at the same time. Weeks later, Hasan found himself removed from hosting TWO programs, and ultimately, he announced he was walking away entirely after effectively being shown the door.

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