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 National Reporting 

• Jake Tapper - CNN

Once again, we see that the media who've said Donald Trump is a threat whose words need to be silenced are incapable of refraining from sharing his words. This time a CNN panel convened to clutch pearls over Trump using a term in proper fashion but that could be interpreted as racist - by those desperate to inject race whenever possible.

On Truth Social, Trump referenced the Georgia election and his contention that the results had been rigged at some point, and in his post, he referred to those responsible as “the riggers.” This, unsurprisingly, was accused of being a word a little too close to the reviled racist “N-word,” and therefore all manner of accusatory auditory followed.

The gang at @CNN needs to get a grip.

The rigors of a campaign are likely to deliver a number of comments that may trigger reactions. They need to be bigger than resorting to these reactions with vigor! pic.twitter.com/x8vrGrlpjz

— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) August 18, 2023

Distinguished Breaking News

• Jonathan Allen - NBC News

In covering the developments surrounding Donald Trump’s fourth indictment, Jon Allen speculated that the former president would use the opportunity of arriving to enter his plea as a moment to sow chaos and disrupt the attention on the August 23 GOP debate.

What has Allen pontificating is that Trump could time his arraignment appearance in a manner that would draw attention away from the other candidates during the first debate. Former President Donald Trump has the option of timing his booking in Georgia to coincide with Wednesday’s first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, which could suck the oxygen out of a televised event he’s been advised to avoid anyway.

The delusional aspect is that Allen suggests Trump will make this into an OJ Simpson-level spectacle when it is the press who is responsible for this level of hysterical coverage. Through the first three indictments, it has been the news outlets who are incapable of refraining from LIVE coverage of Trump’s motorcade to and from the airports as he makes his way to the courthouses.

Grand Old Party debate or Trump party @ the county jail?

It’s not hard to imagine Trump turning his jailhouse arrival into an O.J.-Simpson-in-the-Bronco-level spectacle at the same time DeSantis uses debate stage to show he lowered FL pension assumptions https://t.co/UENfiffs4Q

— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) August 16, 2023

Distinguished Explanatory Reporting

• Rachel Maddow - MSNBC

In possibly the worst example of delusional gaslighting to be seen, Rachel Maddow chose to cover Trump’s indictment and did so in the most oblivious fashion. Or, it was entirely intentional, and she was as brazen as a pundit can get in primetime.

In order to measure the number of election denials and the threat to our democracy posed by Donald Trump, she brought on none other than perpetual election denier and woman who threatened our democracy - in funding the Steele dossier and sparking years of Russian collusion lies - none other than Hillary Clinton.

Seriously, nothing further needs to be said about this inept display.

Rachel Maddow says to Hillary Clinton "if bad actors tell us falsely that every election is stolen and that the only way an election is trustworthy is that if they come out on top of it, it tells you something not just about that person but it wounds us as a democracy in a way… pic.twitter.com/QEt1yl9FhG

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 15, 2023

Distinguished Cultural Commentary

• Taylor Lorenz - TMZ

On the broadcast of the gossip outlet, they were looking into the Trump indictment issue and decided to segue into where most of the coverage might be emanating from, and thus decided it would be wise to bring on the air internet maven from the Washington Post, Taylor Lorenz.

Taylor was gushing about how TikTok is the primary mover of information. Then, she and the co-hosts were all agreeing that television is a dying medium and that those on television are not willing to admit that it is, in fact, a dying medium. 

We need to reiterate a small detail; this segment was playing out on the TMZ syndicated television program.

Donald Trump has been indicted in Georgia and the proceedings will likely be televised. @TaylorLorenz came on @TMZLive to talk about how this will be covered on social media, especially on TikTok: pic.twitter.com/8oRpxYP341

— TMZ (@TMZ) August 16, 2023

Distinguished Public Service

• Jose Diaz-Balart - MSNBC

Extending his network’s ongoing misrepresentation of Florida’s school curriculum on slavery allegedly telling students slavery was a swell thing (based on contorting one sentence in a curriculum that is hundreds of pages long), Diaz-Balart brought on a Florida professor to demean those who wrote the lessons. Professor Marvin Dunn, from Florida International University, dismissed those scholars as “Clarence Thomas-like extreme Republican blacks" and gave what he deemed to be a harsh example of quotes from one of those. 

The host, who hails from Florida himself, made no move to correct Dunn, even as what he claimed to be hateful rhetoric was actually delivered by ... a Democratic politician.

Rather hilarious to see @MarvinDunn4 call out who he calls "Clarence Thomas-type extreme Republican blacks", when the worst example he gave of one praising slavery and condemning Jews is...(wait for it)...a Democrat representative. https://t.co/vbwZHBQa4A

— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) August 18, 2023

Distinguished Cultural Criticism

• E.J. Dickson - Rolling Stone

Clearly, delusion and obliviousness seem to be the trend this past week. The ongoing interest in the bizarre story of the “He’s not real!!!” woman recorded having a quasi-meltdown on a plane was enough to capture the interest of Rolling Stone. The woman has been identified as Tiffany Gomas, and once she was tracked down, she issued a video response to this viral fame she has been bequeathed.

Writer Dickson looked over this evolving episode and had her share of condemnation, especially since Ms. Gomas was outed. Apparently, this result is seen as a negative and is said to be wholly unnecessary - but reporting on Gomas and extending the coverage of her is apparently acceptable???

Making this assessment even more infantile is that Dickson claims that Gomas has become positioned as “a hero of the far right,” despite one glaring reality: Tiffany, in her video, still gave no indication what exactly her rant had been all about (there is some speculation that this was all about someone on board the plane and their earbuds) so it makes absolutely ZERO sense to say anyone is viewing her in a heroic fashion when nobody has a clue just what set her off and why she was behaving in a fashion that had her removed from the plane.

Tiffany Gomas's viral plane meltdown made her a hero of the far right. She came forward — but why did she need to?https://t.co/7AWGMbpA7B

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 15, 2023

Distinguished International Reporting

• Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz - The UK Mirror

We are rather used to seeing people with rather passionate food opinions on social media. That is just an accepted risk with being on any of the platforms, as people tend to believe they are somehow elevated by having militant positions on how we consume food.

It is an altogether different thing when a news outlet feels that these types of approaches are considered journalistically hefty. Over at The Mirror, we get this trenchant report from their senior Lifestyle Writer Sohrabi-Shiraz, leading us to speculate just what kind of insipid coverage their junior lifestyle reporters are involved in.

Anyway, we are sad to inform you that you have probably been eating croissants incorrectly. So stop doing that.

You've been eating croissants all wrong, according to etiquette expert https://t.co/4prvdjhBHR

— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) August 20, 2023

Distinguished Local Reporting

• Dani Medina - Fox 35 Orlando, FL

Hey, we have all been there. You are having a late night in the tavern, you encounter a comely lass, and she then invites you back to her place to extend the festivities. Then she makes you a few cocktails, and before you know it, you are retching in the toilet, and she takes off before you call the cops on her. It’s a story as old as the hills…except there are no hills in Florida.

There is also no reason that someone would not notice that Raid bug spray had been added to your drink, nor any reason why the woman would flee the cops from her own home as if they would never track her down. Basically, it is little more than your typical feel-good Florida Woman story.

A Florida woman was arrested this week after allegedly spiking a man's drink with cockroach spray, according to the Volusia Sheriff's Office. https://t.co/nMRngx95hG

— FOX 35 Orlando (@fox35orlando) August 18, 2023