Our weekly unworthy Pulitzer Prize recognition of less-than-meritorious excellence in journalism.

As an extension of the media-mocking venture at Townhall, Riffed From the Headlines, we once again note the sub-exalted performances from our journalism industry in numerous categories to properly recognize the low water mark in the press.

Distinguished BREAKING News

• Dana Bash, John King – CNN

From the network that brought us lengthy live shots of the gate at Mar-a-Lago, and declared it to be “historic” when their helicopters were following Donald Trump as he drove to an airport, next comes this detailed analysis of a special prosecutor as he…went to lunch at a fast-food establishment.

The press is expectedly excited over the fact that Jack Smith is poised to charge Trump with something regarding the January 6 riot. However, this level of excitement appears rather much. CNN was tipped off that Smith was on the move, and their cameras caught up with the man as he was in a Subway sandwich shop – and he managed to buy a sub for himself!

If this were not enough an example of impacted journalism, there was actually a seven-person panel covering this…event, we guess it was…but the hyperactive analysis made this one for the ages.

JOHN KING: Jack Smith going to Subway today is a message to Donald Trump. Donald Trump tries to intimidate people – that was Jack Smith with no words and a simple five-dollar sub in his hands saying ‘I’m not going anywhere.’”

DANA BASH: They clearly wanted us to see him and that image to be very different from what we saw in the former president’s post. The imagery was intentional and spoke volumes.

EVAN PEREZ: He stood in line, like everyone else!

John King marvels, "Jack Smith going to Subway today is a message to Donald Trump. … Jack Smith with no words and a simple $5 sub in his hand saying 'I'm not going anywhere.'" Dana Bash adds "the imagery was intentional and spoke volume." (2/2) pic.twitter.com/nDmd952R2c

— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 18, 2023

Distinguished Cultural Commentary

• Ursula Perano – The Daily Beast

Remember when the press was actually outraged at examples of anti-Semitism? It was a favorite topic anytime a supposed slander of a Jewish individual – say, mentioning George Soros funds particular projects – and when the accusation was made, many other people in the Republican Party were challenged to comment on the matter, with an implication it was a party-wide problem.

Now, when Democrats are seen making boldly anti-Semitic comments, the problem is – still the Republicans. When Rep. Pramila Jayapal was recently heard uttering bigoted comments, the press reacted with its usual approach: The GOP seizes on the controversy, and they use it to score political points. Because Democrats never use this tactic. Additionally, it is rather tough to listen to a lecture on the Republicans never letting a controversy die as the press spent a week attacking Jason Aldean over a song, including the Daily Beast issuing numerous hit pieces in the timeframe of one day.

"These Republicans always make a big deal out of controvesies!!!" So says the outlet about responses to actual anti-Semitism, while it is obsessed over Jason Aldean's latest song having non-existent racism. Utter clown show. https://t.co/OhRPEKczUQ pic.twitter.com/8VY2tMvUGY

— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) July 19, 2023

Distinguished Investigative Journalism

• Madison Czopek – Politifact

Joining in on the Jason Aldean dogpile was Politifact, where the decision was made to do a forensic study on the music video for “Try That In A Small Town.” Laughably the site takes issues with Aldean claiming that all of the news footage seen in the video was real. Czopek declares that many of the scenes of protests were from other countries, and some were from as far back as 2010. 

It is absolutely unclear how any of those details invalidates his comment, but what is also amusing is that in “proving” these riots were from various places, it completely undermines one of the accusations hurled at Aldean, which was that he was being racist for targeting Black Lives Matter riots. The best is that the line in his song about someone spitting on a cop was backed up in the video of a clip of a woman doing this – at a pro-Trump “Count All the Votes” rally.

Country singer Jason Aldean said he used real news clips in the music video for his song “Try That in a Small Town.” PolitiFact analyzed the video used and found that many of the clips depicting crowd violence were from non-U.S. protests. https://t.co/YcPkVHEmYd

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) July 21, 2023

Distinguished Breaking News

• SKY News

A new model Jeep was engulfed in flames on a Los Angeles freeway, and helicopter footage captured the car conflagration – because, apparently, this rather common event is newsworthy on a global scale. 

Since this was a BREAKING news item, the details were sketchy, so it was not entirely established as to whether or not this tragic automotive event was precipitated by…climate change.

A car went up in flames on a Los Angeles freeway, as California is hit by a blistering heatwave.

However, it is not clear if the accident was heat-related.

Watch more videos 👉https://t.co/wSP611NMIh pic.twitter.com/hwCwvpqmz2

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 18, 2023

Distinguished Public Service

• Isabelle Chapman – CNN

Recently CNN looked into the effects of the toughened abortion laws in Texas and concluded that it was somewhat bad news that there was a rise of births by 10,000 since the law passed. Next comes this impacted analysis, that along with a spike in the birth rate, there was also a rise in infant mortality.

Yes, CNN comes to the conclusion that a couple of hundred infant deaths could have been avoided if thousands of abortions had been allowed.

Texas’ abortion restrictions – some of the strictest in the country – may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality https://t.co/XnXojxJlYM

— CNN (@CNN) July 20, 2023

Distinguished Explanatory Reporting

• Paul Solman – Public Broadcasting Service

The desire to come up with examples of racism in this country is ongoing with the press. Not only are there more strained claims being made on the regular – such as with Aldean’s song – but there is also the analysis of any bad news event being said to impact persons of color in a more extreme fashion. 

Going the next step is PBS in its claim that automated speed cameras are racist and that the issuing of remote speeding tickets affects black residents disproportionately. For this “study,” PBS looked into the disparity of the tickets sent out to mostly black residents in the mostly black portions of Chicago. 

Nearly 200 communities have automated speed cameras in place. But critics say that in places like Chicago, the tickets and fines they generate fall disproportionately on Black and brown residents. https://t.co/wFTf7F22Id

— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) July 17, 2023

Distinguished Sports Journalism

• Claire Murashima – National Public Radio

Keeping tabs on the major stories from last week that the press has refused to cover is fun. IRS whistleblowers, documents showing Biden’s corruption, censorship evidence coming forward – all were roundly bypassed by the press. 

NPR could not possibly find enough airtime for any of those items to be covered in any appreciable fashion since the outlet was consumed with detailing for its audience the history of the sports bra.

The first sports bra was invented in 1977 by sewing two jockstraps. Today, the original prototypes are preserved in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. https://t.co/mIRDpDwoNe

— WFAE (@WFAE) July 23, 2023

Distinguished Cultural Commentary

• Gene Park – Washington Post

Adding to the embarrassment of the newspaper being said to be poised to lose $100 million this year, the Washington Post is on the case of the deeply vital stories that mold and shape our lives and impact each of us on a personal level.

Such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez playing video games this weekend.

A lifelong gamer, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will play “Pico Park” on Saturday, three years after her massively popular “Among Us” stream. https://t.co/my6IIYhjBS

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 22, 2023