An Insult Dog, the White House Cat, and Shot Glass Crabs – Opinion

Our weekly recognition of less-than-meritorious excellence in journalism is worthy of Pulitzer Prize consideration.

As an extension of the media-mocking venture at Townhall, Riffed From The Headlines, we once again recognize the exalted performances in our journalism industry and compile worthy submissions to the Pulitzer Prize board in numerous categories. Let’s get to the best examples of journalistic failure-excellence in order to properly identify the low watermarks within the media.

Distinguished Investigative Reporting

• Ciara O’Rourke – Politifact

Recent coverage of Politifact’s EIC trying to protect writers from criticisms online was covered by us. It seems this will be a growing need as the staff at the fact-check authority continues to put out irrelevant corrections instead of covering more pertinent issues, such as, maybe, the mounting lies pouring out of the White House – maybe???

Here is what they chose to concentrate on: Take relief, dear readers – those photos on Facebook of Kim Jung Un having lost significant weight have been shown to be inaccurate – The photos were altered!

After South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had recently lost 44 pounds, a photo claiming to show him having lost weight has been altered. https://t.co/T7Dz1Vhzov

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) June 17, 2022

The Distinguished Explanatory Reporting

You would expect that an enterprising reporter with a good grasp of the Biden administration would not have a shortage of materials to choose from every day. Kate Bennett, CNN White House correspondent, isn’t so entrepreneurial. She is available to distract from policy disasters and bike falls.

Kate delivers for us a detailed exploration of what is involved in the life of Willow, the Biden’s pet cat.

NEW: What it’s really like to be Willow https://t.co/47act9N3vo

— Kate Bennett (@KateBennett_DC) June 17, 2022

Distinguished National Reporting

• Jeff Jarvis – Newmark Journalism School

It was rather surprising on Friday night to see news delivered that a production team from “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (along with “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog” creator, Robert Smigel) had been arrested for trespassing in the Capitol, after previously being escorted out earlier in the day. As the report came out, journalism professor Jeff Jarvis had a read on who the real villains were in this news story — the Capitol Police.

The J-6 Committee had just one week ago hailed this group of sainted officers. They have become anti-American terrorist sympathizers. It happened in an astonishingly fast fashion.

Capitol Police arrest Triumph, the Insult Comic-Dog and cover up terrorists who tried to storm the building.
‘Late Show’ Production Team Arrested at U.S. Capitol While Filming Television Stunt https://t.co/jN0BZNFtk4

— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) June 18, 2022

The Distinguished Explanatory Reporting

The struggling morning program A New DayJohn Avlon provided details regarding the ongoing exodus of Hispanic voters to the Democrats, which was unintentionally funny but reliable. It compounds the amusement that his stentorian and officious delivery is made in front of his graphic — which showed Bill Clinton opposing Trump in the 2016 presidential race.

CNN experts claim that FoxNews has been labelled a fake news channel because it cannot correct small errors.
There were so many layers of editorial work that went unnoticed @JohnAvlonAre you insisting that Bill Clinton ran as president in 2016 pic.twitter.com/sHWDmchICa

— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) June 16, 2022

Outstanding Local Reporting

• Jeff Kart – Forbes Magazine

Even if the method is not perfect, you have to support the efforts to eradicate an environmental problem. Tamworth Distilling of New Hampshire recognized a local problem and devised a creative solution.

It is an invasive species that has decimated the area. The business owners made a deal to get rid of the green crab and created a whiskey made with the leftovers from this crustacean.

A local trapper in Seabrook, New Hampshire harvested thousands of green crabs weighing in at least 90 pounds to make whiskey. They were then cooked to make crab stock. The stock was fortified with Tamworth-made neutral grain spirits and distilled on a large rotary vacuum still “until the ideal crab essence was achieved,” the company says.

It’s hard to beat ’em so you might as well have a glass of them! https://t.co/zj79Bv34Vt

— Tamworth Distilling (@tamworthdistill) June 6, 2022

Distinguished National Reporting

While we would never dissuade journalists from reporting on potables — seeing as how I (report on them here on the regular — there is a call for a serving of accuracy. It is a cool idea to have Jack & Coke in a can, but the only thing special here is the brand.

CNN evidently adapted the ad copy of a corporate press release to create its ad copy. A little bit more research could have revealed that this concept was not new.

Hardly news – this has LONG been available.
Coca-Cola’s branding is what makes the difference. https://t.co/y3MnQ5Tzlw pic.twitter.com/NLXQ78Guy9

— Brad Slager 🍸🥃🍺🎙 Lifetime Subscriber to CNN+ (@MartiniShark) June 14, 2022