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 Sports Reporting
Carron Phillips - Deadspin
Proof that sports writers are no less activist than standard reporters came when Phillips attempted a social signaling controversy about a 9-year-old boy at a football game. He tried to impugn the character of this boy by calling him racist, trying to compel the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell to take action. That the boy was not, in fact, wearing blackface as charged was just the beginning of Carron’s troubles. It was soon revealed that the kid was himself a Native American. This makes the charge that this boy “found a way to hate Black people and the Native Americans at the same time,” even more egregious and embarrassing.
After spending more than a week defending itself Deadspin has eventually gone in and sanitized much of the article, removing pictures and all references to this young fan. Now the article is not just stupid, but also neutered.
UPDATE-
— Brad Slager: Flips On The Highbeams In Fog Of War (@MartiniShark) December 13, 2023
After spending a week defending itself and pretending it was proper to attempt to destroy a 9-year-old football fan, @Deadspin has completely altered its hitpiece on a kid.
The article has been basically neutered, after being called out for the idiocy behind the piece. pic.twitter.com/bvCoqVbV2A
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
Philip Bump - Washington Post
Here is how you flush your credibility. When Ron DeSantis debated Gavin Newsom at one point he pulled out a sheet that was a map of San Francisco showing the city almost entirely covered by a brown cloud. Yes, it was an image of the infamous “crap map”, but Phil Bump was having none of this! He decided to go on and “debunk” Ron’s visual aid. See - according to Mr. Bump - the image is deceptive because the indicators are much larger than actual human feces, so it makes it appear like there is a larger problem. Also, the map covered nine years of sidewalk defecation, you see, so it is not a fair representation of the city’s issue.
Bump selectively chose years that do not represent the current mess, nor Newsom’s tenure as mayor. What Phil failed to grasp in his “actually…” column is that he just declared the city has had the issue of its denizens depositing their leavings in public for a decade, and it still has not addressed the issue.
WaPo's Philip Bump @pbump:
— Brian Anderson (@AZBrianAnderson) December 2, 2023
1) Made the dots on the California poop map *smaller*
2) Used an old map that excludes any data from the past 4 years of @GavinNewsom's tenure as governor
Data is available through 2023: https://t.co/zQ9JrjcgvQ
joUrNmaLiSMhttps://t.co/qzKgsijbii pic.twitter.com/wHLLDc92D7
Distinguished National Reporting
Jonathan Allen - NBC News
When it comes to sourcing a story this has been a regular problem with the press in recent years. Many reporters are free to run hit pieces on select targets by referencing individuals who are “highly placed”, “people in the know”, “those close to the conversation”, and other forms of anonymous insiders. Jon Allen follows this playbook, but in so doing undermines not only his story but the Biden administration as a whole.
He delivers a report about the internal strife inside the White House regarding the Israel-Hamas war. It appears there is a faction that has been disappointed with Biden’s lack of a push for a ceasefire and he is hearing opposition in his administration.
…From the interns.
Seriously? Who Cares?!?! What Jonathan appears to miss out on here is that if this group of privileged volunteers has a say in the Biden administration then that is the real story.
EXCLUSIVE: White House interns say Biden has “ignored” the “pleas of the American people” on Israel-Hamas in letter to POTUS & VPOTUS demanding a ceasefire.https://t.co/aO236JRiDN via @NBCNews
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) December 6, 2023
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
Louis Jacobson - Politifact
Nikki Haley recently made some comparative comments regarding the Chinese navy regarding our own. The candidate accurately stated China exceeds our fleets in ship counts, but she is a Republican, so Politifact had to snap into action and correct Haley on this matter - for being accurate.
Jacobson acknowledges that what she said about the number of ships was completely correct, but he then imports a slew of other data, which she never alluded to, all to declare her 100% accurate statement is HALF TRUE.
My latest @politifact: Fact-checking Nikki Haley on Chinese naval strength. She’s right on ship counts compared to the U.S., but military experts say this metric overlooks more important factors like size, capabilities, technology & range. https://t.co/MLRfeT1iHg
— Louis Jacobson (@loujacobson) December 4, 2023
Distinguished Cultural Commentary
Ross Bennett-Cook - CNN
At CNN Bennet-Cook falls completely in love with the idea that we need to curtail the way people travel, and the solution is to come up with “Carbon Passports”. They are actually proposing rationing our travel. Of course, this does not seem to be an issue with the political elites. We recently saw John Kerry and Kamala Harris jetting off to Dubai for the UN Climate Summit - on separate planes!
But what makes this moronic proposal all the better is from where it derives. Here we see the push to have people stop traveling…from CNN’s Travel Division. There is nothing wiser than looking at a shaky journalism industry and threatening your job security by trying to eliminate the very subject you are tasked to cover.
CNN: ‘It’s time to limit how often we can travel abroad – ‘carbon passports’ may be the answer’ – ‘Drastic changes to our travel habits are inevitable’ –
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) December 9, 2023
Suggests restrictions will be ‘forced’ upon the public https://t.co/ttSaDEO4Hd pic.twitter.com/a1GiliDoJQ
Distinguished Photojournalism
Kennedy News and Media, for Hull Live
Maybe there is very little in the way of news taking place in Great Britain these days. We are trying to conjure in our minds the discussions that took place when a person rang the offices of the news outlet to declare he found a french fry in his McDonald’s meal that had a smiley face, and the editors listened in to this as a pitch and said, “Run it!”
Awards-worthy Journalism.
— Brad Slager: Flips On The Highbeams In Fog Of War (@MartiniShark) December 13, 2023
"McDonald's fan spots 'smiling chip' peeping back at him"https://t.co/j0C5sL3lAH
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