We conclude the handing out of our honors for the worst seen in the journalism industry in 2025 — The Heckler Awards!

In this installment, we continue delivering honors 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. For 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.

Heckler Awards Pt. 1      Heckler Awards Pt. 2      Heckler Awards Pt. 3      Heckler Awards Pt. 4

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. The judges have turned in the batch of envelopes and are currently recuperating with prescribed pork shoulder doses and a bourbon IV drip. So, with ceremonial introductions aside, let us commence with the pageantry of awarding The Hecklers!

RACE TO THE BOTTOM  (Injecting Racial Issues in Ignorant Fashion)

Abby Phillip — CNN: On one of her roundtable octagon sessions, the hostess allowed ignorance to prosper as Ashley Allison, a former Biden administration advisor, suggested sending white South African farmers “back to Germany.” Given that the majority of them are native born and their lineage hailed from the Netherlands was a small overlooked detail, we have to guess. 

Gustavo Arellano — Los Angeles Times: After the Alex Padilla melodrama erupted, this commentator suggested the only reason he was “manhandled” at the event was for being Mexican. Given that Padilla is an American-born citizen makes this a curious claim.

Nick Viviani — WPEC Channel 12 West Palm Beach: Governor Ron DeSantis created a state department operating like DOGE, calling it the Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, or FAFO. The local station dubbed this acronym racist. How? Because at some point the Proud Boys had used this as a tagline, so naturally…

Robert Scoop Jackson — Chicago Sun Times: Joining in the hysteria over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish being left out of the college football playoff seedings, Jackson offered up his theory why: The team has a black head coach. (Small matter that the same coach brought that same team to the same playoffs one year earlier.)

WINNER

Eddie Glaude — MSNBC

When the Los Angeles Riots were playing out, Professor Glaude saw a problem: This was a national issue that did not involve blacks. If that is the case, then there is nothing for the one-trick pony Glaude to comment on, after all. So he crafted a red-string conspiracy wall theory, one that suggested ICE agents enforcing border laws are on the exact same level as slave catchers from the 1800s. Then he says this current practice allows Trump supporters to be racist. There! Now he’s justified!

Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude Resents Ice Raids Drawing Attention From Him, Turns Racially Idiotichttps://t.co/lCvbkDxAzB

GLOSSARY OVER THINGS (Using Invented Terminology to Sell a Narrative)

Jordan King — Newsweek: The desperate need to spin illegal aliens into a more legal-sounding category, Newsweek tries to go with “Unauthorized citizens.”

John Allen — CBS News: When choosing a new Pope, the Cardinals went sequestered in the Conclave, and had to forego phones and other tech devices while commiserating. Or, as Allen says, they were “raw dogging it” in the Vatican.

Becky Worley — Good Morning America: They spotlighted the new segment of the family for Pride........

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