posted on Dec, 22 2005 @ 04:57 AM
More than a dozen years ago, I joined with Jeff Cohen (founder of the media watch group FAIR) to establish
the P.U.-litzer Prizes. Ever since then, the annual awards have given recognition to the stinkiest media performances of the year.
GNN
And now, the fourteenth annual P.U.-litzer Prizes, for the foulest media performances of 2005:
- FIRST DO SOME HARM AWARD: Radio reporter Michael Linder:
Linder, a correspondent for KNX Radio in Los Angeles, was a media observer at the Dec. 13 execution of Stanley Tookie Williams by lethal injection. In
a report that aired on a national NPR newscast, Linder said: “The first hint that it would be a difficult medical procedure came as they tried to
insert the needle into his right arm.”
- SELF-PRAISE STEALTH PRIZE: William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer
Effusive with praise for George W. Bush’s second inaugural address on Jan. 20, Kristol told Fox News viewers that they’d just watched “a very
eloquent speech … one of the most powerful speeches, one of the most impressive speeches, I think I’ve seen an American president give.”
- PUT THEM IN CHAINS AWARD: Bill O’Reilly
“You must know the difference between dissent from the Iraq war and the war on terror and undermining it,” O’Reilly told his national audience
on June 20. “And any American that undermines that war, with our soldiers in the field, or undermines the war on terror, with 3,000 dead on 9/11, is
a traitor. Everybody got it? Dissent, fine; undermining, you’re a traitor. Got it? So, all those clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could
incarcerate them immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the FBI and just put them in chains, because they, you know, they’re
undermining everything and they don’t care, couldn’t care less.”
- MICKEY MOUSE JOURNALISM PRIZE: Correspondent Mike Barz and ABC
During a Sept. 12 report that aired on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Barz explained: “Based on all the smiles on all the faces of the children
… it looks like the magic of Disney is taking hold in China.” It was a very upbeat report about a new Disney-owned theme park—on a TV network
owned by Disney.
- OUTSOURCED TO THE PENTAGON AWARD: New York Times reporter Judith Miller
In October, after pressure built for Miller to explain her prewar reliance on dubious sources while frequently reporting that Saddam Hussein’s
regime had weapons of mass destruction, she agreed to be interviewed by the Times.
- ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MAN PRIZE: Bob Woodward
During a Nov. 21 appearance on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” the famous Washington Post journalist struggled to explain why—for more than two
years—he didn’t disclose that a government official told him the wife of Bush war-policy critic Joe Wilson was undercover CIA employee Valerie
Plame.
- PRIME SLIME NEWS AWARD: Nancy Grace and CNN Headline News
“This is no script, no made-for-TV drama, it’s the real thing,” Grace promises, “real people with real stories.” On a typical evening, the
show led with these stories: “Tonight, breaking news. Human bones, human teeth—police come across a gruesome scene at a Wisconsin car salvage
yard, where they say it looks like somebody may have burned a body. ... Plus, a husband in court today for spiking his wife`s Gatorade with
anti-freeze, enough to kill her.”
Norman Solomon is the author of the new book “War Made Easy”
Please visit the link provided for the complete story.
I have to say, that my FAVOURITE would be Bill O'Reilly - I mean, how can you not Love this guy, right?
[edit on 22/12/05 by Souljah]