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!)

ABC’s Matt Gutman doubled down, ten minutes later after this on ABC News Live: “It’s heartbreaking on so many levels, Kyra. Obviously, Charlie Kirk was murdered brutally in front of a crowd of thousands...[O]n the other hand, there is this duality of a very a portrait of a very… pic.twitter.com/0ykDhsg1Ko

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!)

🚨NEW: MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace *ACTUALLY* claims no Democrats have ever implied "TRUMP IS HITLER"🚨

Drop examples below 👇

I'll start: Jasmine Crockett has *literally* called Trump "Temu Hitler" and "Wannabe Hitler"🤦‍♂️@DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/GOsxOrNWDN

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........

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