With the year coming to a close, it is time to haul the news from the media to the curb, but we first need to dig through the pile and sort the refuse. We need to separate the worst from getting into the recycling bins, because the last thing we need to see is some of this behavior circulating once again. So, in the futile effort of improving the journalism landscape, we need to highlight the lowlights of 2025.

Here at "Riffed From the Headlines," it has been another year of compiling the worst and misbegotten in the media landscape. We began the year with the hope that improvements would be experienced. Our hopes were, not surprisingly, dashed. Thus, we are left with the task of delivering notice of the worst from the journalism industry, and for that, we have developed The Heckler Awards.

This will be a four-part series in which we will (dis)honor the events reported in the press this year, based on the evidence compiled in our daily column. We begin with technical awards, and that will then give way to specific honors in the various categories we use to organize the lapses in journalism ethics. Part One will honor industry-wide activity, while Part Two will recognize achievements by individuals and specific outlets, and then Parts Three and Four will entail the category "winners."

Now, with that pageantry aside, let us delve into the recognition and begin handing out the recognition of the news industry foibles for 2025, in this, the first round of The Hecklers!

The Industry Prevarication of the Year – The Epstein Follies

There were a great many corrupted storylines throughout the year, so choosing was not an easy task. But eventually we settled on the one item that seemed to be a throughline in the press for most of the year. The release of the Epstein Files occupied the press for most of 2025, beginning with the criticism that they were not released in a timely fashion. This led the press to – dare we use their term – "pounce."

The accusations began early, then the delay in the release, and the announcement that there was not an actual "list" was all it took for the media to rush to conclusions. Later in the year, we saw the steady release of choice documents, all creating a maelstrom of accusations from the press. The common thread? It was all entirely supposition.

Every charge leveled at President Trump, every piece of "evidence" held up, and every claim that they finally had him pegged with guilt fell apart. The Democrats leaked choice emails and doctored photos to assign culpability, as the press obediently trumpeted the "proof," and every time these examples fell apart faster than an IKEA bookshelf. The realization was that if Trump could have been brought down by Epstein evidence, it would have occurred years ago. The desperation was blatant, and the need to ignore Democrats proven to have Epstein connections made things worse.

The Media Mynah Birds Trophy – The "Maryland Man" Mystique

As the administration ramped up the deportation efforts, the press found their martyr, and it was a perplexing choice. Abrego Garcia was latched onto as their cause, an illegal alien with a checkered past and connections to El Salvador gangs. This was who they picked as their sympathetic figure?!

Yet, as he was rightfully deported, the press recast Garcia, referring to him as a "Maryland father" while ignoring his background, using him as a cudgel against Trump. Even when he was exposed as a domestic abuser, and then a case of him being involved in trafficking other illegals emerged, they still clung to him as their noble figure. This posturing fed into a year of other sympathetic stories where detained illegals were recast,

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