OPINION

2025 Media Malpractice Recognized With the Heckler Awards Pt. 2 — The Individual (Dis)Honors

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Dec 24, 2025
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It is time to continue the rundown of the worst seen from our media complex with The Heckler Awards, our recognition of the worst from the problematic press in 2025. In the daily column “Riffed From the Headlines,” we highlight the media lowlights and violations of journalism ethics. In our four-part year-end series, we give notice to the worst offenders and most dysfunctional reporting seen from the media landscape.

In this, the second installation, we will recognize some of the individual (dis)honors from either specific outlets or named journalists. So, let’s dig in and continue the scrounging through this year’s dustbin of the media landscape! Here are the technical award trophies for the disturbing acts from news sources or newsmakers last year. 

Celebrating Media Malfunctions With the Heckler Awards - Part 1: The Industry Technical Trophies

Media Rehab Facility – CNN

While it has always been the case that the networks — especially the cable nets — are available to assist Democrats in image repair, CNN was especially active in helping party members spin their problems late in the year. In rapid succession, we saw the network bring on Stacey Plaskett, Hakeem Jeffries, Jasmine Crockett, Ilhan Omar, Keith Ellison, and Mark Kelly to try to repair the controversies swirling around them, and the compliant network allowed them to filibuster to beat back criticisms.

The Papal Chase – The Daily Beast

For some reason, this outlet was especially focused on Vatican activity involving the vice president, and for that same reason, they consistently got things wrong. The outlet claimed that JD Vance broke a Vatican rule by taking pictures inside the Sistine Chapel, except the pics were taken by the White House photographer while they were on an official guided tour. In April, it claimed that Pope Francis refused to meet with JD Vance, and then, one day later, was shamed into reporting the two had a private meeting — but tried to say the Pope was critical of the vice president. Then it repeated this lie with the new Pope Leo, with a similar disqualifying follow-up, and it ended the same way for the outlet.

Gator Done – The Miami Herald

With the debut of Alligator Alcatraz in South Florida, it is not surprising that the regional paper would be attuned to the developments. However, there is a difference between local interest and unhealthy obsession. In the days ahead of its opening, through the arrival of the first detainees, the Miami Herald was posting dozens of pieces some days, hitting 75 entries in one week, and compiling 200 mentions of the facility in less than one month.

You’re an Adult Now, Get Out – Teen Vogue

Condé Nast Publishing came out with the announcement it was dissolving the bulk of the staff at Teen Vogue and folding any remaining elements into the parent publication. The demise of the hyper-leftist outlet had many upset, and it led to a comical display when staff from other Condé Nast publications whined in protest in the offices, leading to many of them getting fired for their little snit-fit. In a dose of fitting irony, Teen Vogue came to an end appropriately, as it ended as it turned 20 years old.

Prose & Conspiracy – Rolling Stone

As Tulsi Gabbard released the wealth of government documents concerning the busted Russian Collusion narrative, the bulk of the media that had been obsessed with the story became instantly apathetic at the arrival of the disqualifying evidence. Typifying the approach by the press was Rolling Stone, which tried to dismiss this revelation by saying…it was all cooked up by Russia. To explain this conspiracy inception: 10 years ago, Russia planted the elements of the scandal to disprove that the scandal was real, which would then be a conspiracy by Russia to disprove a conspiracy had taken place. We think…

Creative Editing Honor – BBC

The BBC was exposed for manipulating the speech given by President Trump on January 6. The British outlet cut up his audio to make it sound like he encouraged the riot that day, hiding the changes with video edits whenever the cut-and-paste took place. It was a clearly intentional act, one that the likes of Brian Stelter desperately tried to spin as an unfortunate error. What they had to ignore is that this revelation was part of a lengthy internal report that displayed a voluminous list of journalism problems within the network. 

Pentup-agon Frustration – Intelligence Correspondents

From the time he was tabbed for the role in the Department of War, Pete Hegseth has been targeted perpetually by the press. He made moves early on in his term to reconfigure the media arrangements in the Pentagon, and then made rules changes on the media to address leaks. Most correspondents complained about the adjustments, while weirdly saying Hegseth was imposing rules on things they previously were restricted from doing. The bulk of the outlets working the Pentagon quit, rather than agree to the new standards put in place.

Signal Virtue-ing – Jeffrey Goldberg

On the subject of Hegseth, the press felt they had him dead to rights and primed to be removed when it was revealed that Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic had been inadvertently added to a Signal group chat. He was able to see Pentagon officials discussing some of the details about a military strike in Yemen. There was dispute about how much sensitive or classified details were disclosed, but ultimately it only led to the dismissal of Mike Waltz from his post. 

Credibility Gap – CBS News / 60 Minutes

The network has been in perpetual upheaval for most of the year. It started with the long-delayed release of the full Kamala Harris interview from October, followed by President Trump suing over the matter. (As an added dose of idiocy, the Emmys awarded the program for a Best Editing honor.) CBS settled the suit, bothering many inside the network. Then, Bari Weiss was hired to take over the news division, causing more division in the ranks. Things culminated this week with her decision to hold a report on the El Salvador prison where the U.S. has sent illegal immigrant criminals. The hysterics over this common move have been hyperbolic.

Spotlight Meal – Gaza Toddler

This summer there was a rash of reports about the plight in Gaza in which children were said to be dying of malnutrition. It became a questionable detail when it was noticed that in almost all of the reports of a widespread problem they used images of the same child. Then it was noted that the rest of the child’s family was in fine health. Eventually the facts came out: Hamas was feeding out these pictures of a toddler with a genetic condition to use as propaganda.

Fake News Is the Best News – The Pulitzer Prize Committee

The outfit that is positioned as the arbiter of journalism excellence went lower than just its biased selection process. More than avoiding any outlet that may trend toward the right, this year the biggest Pulitzer Prize committee decided to recognize fake news with its highest honor. ProPublica was given the prize for Distinguished Public Service for a series of articles showing the adverse effects of tightened abortion laws in the country. Most of the cases the outlet cited were instances where women were imperiled by issues unrelated to the laws (such as miscarriages), or through other actions, like the woman who died after she took the abortion pill on her own accord.

Word of the Year – “Retribution”

Many in the press have been particularly bothered at the moves President Trump has invoked in pressing charges against individuals, accusing him of employing lawfare. This is amusing given the actions seen from Joe Biden against Trump that the same press cheered. But making this all the more hilarious is how often they use the term “Retribution” to describe his moves, with no consideration about what he is supposedly seeking revenge over. ABC’s Jon Karl took this obliviousness to the highest level when he released his book titled…well, you know.