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 Feature Writing
- Sylvia Foster-Frau – Washington Post
The draft memo to SCOTUS was released. There is the potential of it being repealed. Roe Vs. WadeThe newswires will soon receive a flood of supportive abortion stories. WaPo’s profile on a young Mexican American woman who is going through turmoil in her family after having her second abortion has got things rolling.
It is an openly discussed issue. They describe how the young woman, who had her first abortion in Indiana, now lives in Texas, where there are stricter abortion laws. As a result, she has had to turn to obtain an abortion-inducing drug on the streets that came in from Mexico.
Of course, the article doesn’t explain why she chose to use the black markets to obtain illegal drugs from foreign countries, instead of going to a street-level drugstore to get birth control.
The story is about abortion & how it can chip away at one of the closest of relationships:a mother & daughter.
But I think it also shows how lived experiences as immigrants & Americans,from one generation to the next, can shape some of our deepest beliefs. https://t.co/svhnyNCWSp— Silvia Foster-Frau (@SilviaElenaFF) May 6, 2022
Distinguished Cultural Commentary
- Everdeen Mason – New York Times
The Wordle entry caused some confusion this week. On May 9, some players recognized a change had come over that day’s entry, and confusion began to stir among the puzzle community!
New York Times Games is a site that entertains and escapes. Wordle, however, wants to be different from the news. Some users today may find an answer that appears to be closely linked with a recent event. This is entirely unintentional and a coincidence — today’s original answer was loaded into Wordle last year.
This was caused by the fact that the five-letter choice that morning was word F-E-T-U-S-.
Some people may use a Wordle answer that is different from the official one. Refresh your browser to see the correct answer word. For more information, please read our editor’s note. https://t.co/3dY5nRu7yu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 9, 2022
Distinguished Investigative Reporting
- Patricia Murphy, Greg Bluestein – Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A report by the AJC was published on campaign outreach that involved Donald Trump. Campaigning on behalf of a Republican Secretary of State candidate in the Georgia primary, the recorded calls have Trump introducing himself as being “hopefully your favorite president of all time.”
It is as alarmingly disturbing and shocking to journalists, yet it can be humorous how the article disguises the fact. The phone calls made to the general public are described as being “leaked”.
‘YOUR ALL-TIME FAVORITE PRESIDENT’: #DonaldTrump makes robo-call for #Georgiasec. of the state candidate #JodyHiceTrump is a nemesis. #BradRaffenspergerIn #Republican primary@AJC
-Southern politics at ChickenFriedPolitics.com-https://t.co/EKRvKUjouP— ChickenFriedPolitics (@ChkFriPolitics) May 9, 2022
Distinguished Cultural Criticism
- Lisa Respers France – CNN
If you are reminiscing over a film that was 18 years old, how many sentences do you need? Considering how old the film “Mean Girls” is, It seems ridiculous to be hearing it actress Amanda Seyfried say…well, anything about it at this point. To learn that she is displeased with one scene in particular – a closing segment where she is a weather girl and predicts it will rain by clutching one of her breasts – is less than revealing. The fact that she only said it once is a sign of how insincere her remarks are.
“I always felt really grossed out by that,” she says. “I was like 18 years old. It was just gross.”
The Distinguished Explanatory Report
- Martin Well – Washington Post
The Washington Post did not cover a recent D.C. event at the Virginia Attorney General’s office. They seemed reluctant to say that there had been wrongdoing with Republican AG Jason Miyares. The office was attacked by someone, however, for reasons unknown to the editorial board their coverage was exceptional in that it did not include any kind of usual assessment of the violence.
The paper stated that it appeared as though the bullet had acted on its own accord. Also curious was the need to make it seem as if anyone shooting up the AG’s office is normal business in D.C.
Sometimes, accidental or intentional, guns have been used to fire shots into buildings and houses around the Washington region.
Bullet goes through window of Virginia attorney general’s offices https://t.co/og79koGKB6
— Post Local (@postlocal) May 11, 2022
Distinguished Cultural Commentary
Gwenyth paltrow, a vanity lifestyle website, turned heads this week when an advertisement for diapers was posted on Goop. They retail for $120 for a dozen. It has now become revealed – this was done as a lesson of social awareness. It was sad that no one was able to understand this foolish excess, which was easily believable by the website run by the actress.
See, GP wanted to highlight the plight of low-income individuals and the impact of the cost of diapers on a family… or something. However, the message got lost when many people saw the diapers with a rhinestone-encrusted lining, and assumed that this item was actually available. It is the same seller selling them all. Candles scented with vagina.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Pretends to Sell $120 Disposable Diapers to Prove a Point About Essential Items https://t.co/aCuJLGIrxf
— Showbiz World (@ShowbizWorld0) May 12, 2022
Distinguished Editorial Writing
- Jumi Bello – Literary Hub
Although it’s bad enough being caught with some content stolen from your debut novel, Jumi bello made things worse. After writing her story, it became clear that Jumi Bello had also copied portions of her essay.
One writer plagiarized her novel. It was discovered that she had plagiarized the essay in segments. Plagiarism Today.
A Case of Stolen Literary Work Severe Enough to Impress Plagiarism Recidivist Joe Bidenhttps://t.co/PYkJuBQNkV
— Townhall Media (@TownhallMedia) May 11, 2022