OPINION

The Heckler Awards, Part 3 – Celebrating the Bottom of Journalism in 2025

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Dec 29, 2025
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

Our end-of-the-year dis-honors continue as we “celebrate” the worst of journalism over the past year with The Heckler Awards. In our first installments, we recognized the troubled trends in the media industry and the individual honors for achievement by outlets or select journalists.

Recognizing Media Malfunctions With the Heckler Awards – Part 1: The Industry Technical Trophies

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

In this installment, we begin the three-part section involving the categories we cover in our daily column “Riffed From the Headlines.” These are the recurring actions seen in the press as they deviate from journalism ethics on the regular. In each category, we compiled the final nominees and declared the winner. It has been a rough process of winnowing down the copious examples collected, but we have come up with the exemplary performances in each instance.

Honorees are vying for our illustrious pyrite-plated trophy featuring our trademarked back-row popcorn tosser, encrusted with nylon faux-marble, ensconced on a base of crafted domestic pressboard, and a high gloss coat of Onyx Krylon. Ceremonial introductions aside, let us commence with the pageantry of awarding The Hecklers!

LEGALIZED PRESS-TITUTION (the Press Pimping for the Left)

  • Tara McGowan – The Courier Newsroom: If you wonder why Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) has suddenly become a media commodity, it is because this Democrat-funded group of faux local news sites that push party propaganda has promoted him heavily. McGowan serves two roles: She helped found this fake news source, and she is reportedly in a relationship with Murphy.

  • Annie Karni – The New York Times: After Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) made a media spectacle when he was subdued and detained as he tried to rush the stage when DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking, Karni put out a sympathetic profile on him, involving speaking with childhood friends about the trials of their upbringing. Somehow Karni tracked down the sources, conducted the interviews, wrote her piece, and had it published – all on the same afternoon as his stunt performance.

  • The Emmys: As CBS News was enduring controversy over its infamously manipulated interview with candidate Kamala Harris, The Emmys awarded 60 Minutes with a Best Editing award for its interview.

  • Jacob Soboroff – MSNBC: In his coverage of the No Kings protest (the second one), Soboroff felt it was vital to get an interview with a protester from inside their inflatable pink unicorn costume.

WINNER

Matt Gutman – ABC NEWS

Gutman perplexedly decided to lend a charming background of romance for the sniper who killed Charlie Kirk. (Congratulations, Matt!)


PATHOLOGICAL MEDIA AMNESIA (Reports Contradicting Prior Reporting)

  • Brendan Byrne – NPR: After President Trump requested that two astronauts at the International Space Station be recovered by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, NPR could not abide good news, so it insisted they were not, in fact, stranded. This managed to defy prior NPR reports that said they were, in fact, stranded.

  • Jeffrey Goldberg – The Atlantic: In his exposé of being included in the attack messaging regarding the move against Houthi rebels, Goldberg called into question the use of the Signal messaging app for officials. Yet his own publication hailed the same app as the “gold standard” for encryption messaging.

  • Natalia Mehlman Petrzela – MSNBC: In the usual bid to help the Democrats, the suggestion was made that to help the party win back male voters, they should do outreach at gyms. The problem is that Natalia’s own network has repeatedly said fitness and workouts were a tool of white supremacists.

  • Chris Hayes – MSNBC: The pundit was expectantly livid over the “censoring” of Jimmy Kimmel. He also expectantly forgot he used to be a loud voice calling to cancel Tucker Carlson.

WINNER

Nicolle Wallace - MSNBC

In speaking with Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL), the afternoon hostess tried to sell the fiction that no Democrats have ever called Donald Trump or Republicans “Nazis.” We are not sure how she expected to sell this wild claim, but she was reminded. (Congratulations, Nicolle!)


LOW-OCTANE GASLIGHTING (Outright Fabrications From Sources)

  • Korsha Wilson – The New York Times: The paper hyped that egg prices were so high that people were resorting to dyeing potatoes instead for Easter. Egg prices had been falling at the time this came out, and the only source was a how-to video seen on TikTok.

  • Jacob Soboroff – MSNBC: The reporter insisted to Stephen Colbert that deterrence at the border never works on stemming the influx. At the time he said this, the number of people coming across had already plummeted.

  • Rachel Maddow – MSNBC: The hostess tried to suggest improper graft by Trump in buying a fleet of Teslas from Elon Musk. The order had been made by Joe Biden’s administration.

  • Kenneal Patterson – The Daily Beast: The headline insists veterans beg Ron DeSantis to stop killing them, and the copy states he is “slaughtering” vets. Small matter that these are individuals on death row for severely heinous crimes.

  • McKenzie Funk – ProPublica: The outlet delivered a scathing exposé on the nightmare flights involving immigrants being deported. All the interviews with flight attendants took place during the Biden administration.

WINNER

Erkki Forster –The Daily Beast. 

In a scathing piece, the claim is that Trump tried to get a congresswoman into his bed on Air Force One. What actually happened was that he asked a pregnant Anna Paulina Luna – with her husband – if she was uncomfortable, and if she needed to rest, he said she was welcome to use the bed on the plane. (Congratulations, Erkki!)


PRESENTATION PARADOX (When Initial Claims in a Piece Are Contradicted in the Report)

  • Fred Harter – Associated Press: The claim is made that HIV rates were spiking in Ethiopia due to DOGE cuts to foreign aid, except they measured this with infection rates from 2024.

  • Ruth Marcus – Washington Post: The columnist claimed Trump lorded over the worst two weeks of a presidency and described him as a tyrant. Her proof: The sweeping way he was curtailing government influence.

  • Karoun Demirjian, Sharon LaFraniere – The New York Times: In a lengthy piece detailing accusations made against Pete Hegseth ahead of his confirmation hearing, they detailed at length how his ex-sister-in-law claimed he abused her sister. Eighteen paragraphs later, they got around to a small detail: His ex-wife denied all of the claims.

  • Alex Thompson – Axios: In a dose of oblivious comedy, after their book “Original Sin” came out, Alex Thompson defended a post showing clips of Jake Tapper denying Biden’s condition. Alex resorted to the excuses previously made of Biden, saying they were cheap fake videos of Jake.

WINNER

Ron Bousso – Reuters

After Spain suffered a massive blackout throughout much of the country, the report was headlined that we cannot blame this on renewable energy sources. This is repeated in the first sentence, and then the second sentence declares it was due to the management of the renewables grid. Deeper, Bousso cites the collapse of the solar power system. (Congratulations, Ron!)


HOAX & CHANGE (Reports on Completely Fabricated Events)

  • MOMS DEMAND / EVERYTOWN – Many area news outlets ran a speech given by a former student at a Kentucky high school during an anti-gun rally. The problem was that no one in the groups vetted the speaker or his story of a school shooting that never took place.

  • Bevan Hurley – The Times of London: In a bizarre tale, the paper first ran a piece where Bill de Blasio was critical of Zohran Mamdani. Then the former mayor denied the entire report. Then the paper claimed it had been targeted by a hoaxer posing as de Blasio. THEN, the whole story was revealed: The reporter emailed a person actually named Bill de Blasio, but he was not the actual mayor.

  • Jack Smith / DOJ  – While outlets were filled with complaints about allegedly improper lawfare, they shied away from the reveal that Jack Smith’s Arctic Frost investigation was a sweeping violation. Among his overreach efforts was investigating America First Legal Foundation for possible involvement in the January 6 activity. The organization had to come out to inform the press that it was not even formed until months after that date.

  • Zohran Mamdani – Outlets energetically reported on the mayoral candidate’s claim that his aunt suffered after 9/11 because she was insulted for wearing a hijab. Then it was learned that his only aunt who is a Muslim lived out of the country at the time.

WINNER

Daniel Patrick Sheehan – Morning Call

For days, the press complex was filled with outrage that an elderly man died in ICE custody. When it was said that the agency had no record of this death, it became that he had been deported but died when held in a hospital in Guatemala. Then, authorities recognized that the photo being circulated was of a man from Chile who died about a decade ago. Since then, the family that fed this story had gone dark. (Congratulations, Daniel!)


POUNCE OF PREVENTION    (when the press recasts stories to conservative reactions)

  • Julia Ornedo – The Daily Beast: When it was revealed that Joe Biden was diagnosed with advanced cancer, clearly hidden during his term, it was said Republicans wanted to turn that into a conspiracy.

  • Jacob Wendler – Politico: After the revelation of the grisly murder of a Ukrainian female in North Carolina, Jake said she was dragged into a political messaging war.

  • Josh Fiallo – The Daily Beast: After the Minnesota school shooting, MAGA “seized” on the attacker being trans.

  • Phillip M. Bailey – USA Today: When the disturbing Jay Jones texts about murdering his political opponents came out, USA Today saw a problem when Republicans pounced on the contents.

WINNER

Camille Von Kaenel – Politico

As the California wildfires raged and Democrat incompetence was exposed from the mayor’s office all the way up to Gov. Gavin Newsom, she brought the charge that pointing out the raft of problems was a case of Republicans seizing on the disaster and politicizing it. (Congratulations, Camille!)


MATCHING MEDIA MEMORANDUM (When Outlets Suspiciously Deliver the Same Reporting)

  • The Ambush Memo – After Trump kicked out Volodymyr Zelensky after the disastrous visit to the Oval Office, the common report was that Trump “ambushed” the Ukrainian leader.

  • The Chaos Memo – With no real indicator why, numerous sources began describing the Trump administration with “chaos” at the same time.

  • The Antifa Memo – Within a week, the common report going out was that Antifa is not an organization and that no one could define what it is.

  • The Farm Memo – There was an explosion of reports that ICE agents had arrested children at a farm, avoiding the fact that minors were working there and that it was a marijuana growing facility.

WINNER

The Fishing Boats Memo

In order to complain about the attacks taking place on drug cartels off the coast of Venezuela, many outlets claimed the military was targeting fishing boats. This, despite the videos showing hits on high-speed watercraft with quad outboard engines and no fishing gear present.


PROSE & CONTRADICTION (Managing to Disqualify Claims in the Same Report)

  • Scott MacFarlane – CBS News: Amazingly, MacFarlane found it controversial to declare drug cartels as terror organizations, and then he showed a display recognizing the 100,000 deaths from fentanyl in this country.

  • Theodore Schleifer, Jacob Reber –  The New York Times: As the press was consumed with the messaging from the first No Kings protest, the paper obliviously declared the marriage of Alex Soros and Huma Abedin as one of “Liberal Royalty.”

  • Jill Lawrence – The Bulwark:  In a decidedly un-conservative stance, Jill declared it was time to have bold discussions on transgender issues. She says the Democrats need to “dominate the debate,” and to stop “avoiding confrontation.” Then the site turned off the comments section on the post.

  • Ezra Klein – The New York Times: He delivered this gem of a commentary, saying President Trump lies about illegals receiving medical care, and then in the next sentence, proves him correct.

WINNER

Alex Thompson – Axios

In a reference to a detail from Karine Jean-Pierre’s book, Alex stated that if a source is known to have lied about a topic, their call for comments to be off the record becomes invalid, and he can name them. He said this after the publication of his book “Original Sin,” which was filled with administration officials who had clearly lied but gave him details anonymously. (Congratulations, Alex!)


NEWS AVOIDANCE SYNDROME (When Major News Items Are Entirely Overlooked)

  • Accidental Omissions – The press was hyping any plane accident incident at the start of the year, but avoided reporting that there were fewer incidents than the prior year.

  • No Scramble to Report – After energetically covering high egg prices from the day Trump took office, there was no coverage when prices plunged in March below those on inauguration day.

  • Mary Beth Sheridan – Washington Post -- In a May report on the sharp drop in fentanyl seizures taking place, she worked hard to avoid giving credit to the toughened border policy.

  • USA Today – In reporting immediately after the Minnesota private school shooting, it held back from mentioning the shooter was a trans individual, but it did imply that ICE detentions could have been a contributing factor.

  • No Longer a Crisis – During the Jimmy Kimmel suspension flap, the press was excitable when someone shot at an ABC affiliate in California. They completely walked away from the story when it was discovered that the shooter was a left-wing activist.

WINNER

Donie O’Sullivan – CNN

The self-avowed extremism correspondent had previously promoted a special when he stated that he could not find examples of politically-driven violence on the Left. After a man in Boulder, Colorado, used Molotov cocktails to attack a group of Jewish people gathering in support of Israel, Donie immediately flew to the state – to cover the trial of My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell in Denver. (Congratulations, Donie!)


REPORTING ON THE MIRROR (When Newsmakers Are Making the News)

  • David Muir – ABC News: When reporting on the California wildfires, Muir was wearing a fireman’s jacket, for some reason, and was spotted having it tailored for the cameras on scene.

  • Patrick Healy – The New York Times: After his newspaper made an accurate report on Zohran Mamdani claiming to be black on a college entrance application, Assistant Managing Editor Healy had to explain themselves amid outrage, some of which was inside their own newsroom.

  • Minnesota Star Tribune – The pro-Tim Walz newspaper, which has supported his union and taxation policies, closed down its local printing operations. It has outsourced the work to Iowa, where there are more favorable labor costs and better tax policies.

  • Alex Thompson – Axios: While promoting his book release on the lies surrounding the Joe Biden presidency, Alex detailed an interview with one Biden staffer who was not only bold and upfront about their lying, but also expressed amazement at how the press would just regurgitate their lies without question.

WINNER

Scott MacFarlane – CBS News

In a staggering dose of self-importance, the likes of which Jim Acosta would be impressed by, MacFarlane detailed how he was at the Pennsylvania rally when the attempt was made on Trump’s life, and Scott claims that he was the one who almost died. Even better, it was not because of the shooter, but he says the Trump crowd wanted to turn on the reporters on site…for no discernible reason. Just amazing. (Congratulations, Scott!)


STEALTH STORY EVOLUTION (the Altering of News Reports on the Sly)

  • Sacramento Bee – The paper swapped the image used at a GOP event after criticism for showing one candidate apparently giving a Nazi hand salute.

  • The BBC – After a headline that said a woman in Gaza dies of malnutrition, the outlet changed the headline to reflect she had leukemia and was in Italy receiving treatments.

  • NBC News – In initial reports about the shooting at a New Hampshire private club, the network omitted that the shooter had shouted “Free Palestine,” and when shamed, entered that detail later without attribution.

  • The Daily Beast – The outlet had to entirely take down a baseless piece alleging a connection between First Lady Melania Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

WINNER

CNN

Natasha Bertrand delivered a report on the Iran bombing mission, saying that internal communications said the mission was not successful. This was instantly disputed by officials, and they stated that she was relying on a low-confidence early action report. The network went into overdrive defending itself, saying Natasha had included that detail in her reporting. Only she had not, and they added comments asserting it after the controversy. (Congratulations to all involved at CNN!)