It is time for a new round of nominations for nefarious news nonsense! In recognizing the efforts of press unprofessionalism, journalistic sloth, and generally deserved media mockery, we have created “The Golden Remington Awards.”
This trophy honors the olden days when hard-scrabble hacks committed actual journalism and hammered out dispatches on those hefty wordsmith devices. With an eye to that past of muckraking reporting and shoe leather investigation, we acknowledge those who fail today or misreport in an audacious fashion.
These are the inauspicious nominations, in several categories, to be honored at the end of the year for the 2024 Remmy Awards.
Distinguished National Reporting
Reporting on “The Today Show,” McLaughlin details how two shootings on the same weekend were tied to the recent Supreme Court decision that ruled bump stocks for guns could not be banned due to Second Amendment protections.
A mass shooting at a splash pad in Michigan, another at a Juneteenth celebration in Texas, and yet another at a gathering in Massachusetts, all just days after Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that rejects a ban on bump stocks. The weekend shootings come just days after the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks.
My goodness, the cause and effect was immediate! I mean, these people must have raced out that very day that SCOTUS made its ruling and decided to kill people as a result! Except that does not exactly make much sense, and as we come to learn later, McLaughlin also was a bit nonsensical in her reporting.
The shootings from over the weekend did not involve bump stocks to our knowledge, but experts say if they did they could have been so much worse.
Friends and families are grieving after mass shootings in Michigan, Massachusetts and Texas over the weekend that left at least 2 dead and many others injured, including children. @ErinNBCNews reports on the details. pic.twitter.com/ZhSFbTvCkP
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 17, 2024
Distinguished Explanatory Reporting
The president of the WHCA has had a bit of a challenging tenure under the Joe Biden term. The president has repeatedly let it slip that there is coordination with the White House press pool, forcing O’Donnell’s hand to issue statements defending the honor of her journalists. Biden has frequently exposed how his rare press conferences are coordinated, and he has repeatedly been photographed with note cards displaying reporters and preset questions.
At times, he has given long answers to queries that he is clearly reading from the teleprompter or sheets at the podium, indicating they knew prior what would be asked. Last year, one of his note cards displayed he had the order of journalists he would call on and had the name of one reporter — Courtney Subramanian, of the LA Times — with her picture, her outlet, and the question she would ask, along with the answer for him. She did, in fact, ask a question of that very nature when called.
After yet another tip of the hand by Biden at the G7 Summit, O’Donnell was forced to issue a letter of denial, which few, if any, believed.
Our WHCA statement following the president’s press conference in Italy today. pic.twitter.com/hBprZu48YV
— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) June 13, 2024
Distinguished Feature Writing
Even before the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, there was talk about the divisiveness and dangerous rhetoric in the country today. As usual, almost all of that talk was accusatory speculation aimed at those on the right. It amounts to largely conservative voices who are dangerous and inciteful, and accusations on how a new Trump administration will do everything from ending democracy to jailing and executing his opponents.
Of course, those accusing him of such are NOT the ones being divisive and resorting to scaremongering. Therefore, it is thought to be a completely sane and sober exercise for The New Republic to turn over its current issue to a clutch of writers who provide their nightmare scenarios of what the nation will look like under Trump 2.0. Depicting him on the cover as Adolph Hitler is just another measured and calm editorial decision.
We chose the cover image, based on a well-known 1932 Hitler campaign poster, for a precise reason: that anyone transported back to 1932 Germany could very, very easily have explained away Herr Hitler’s excesses and been persuaded that his critics were going overboard. After all,… pic.twitter.com/x79Rkh86O1
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) July 7, 2024
Distinguished Editorial Writing
When Dr. Anthony Fauci’s book was released, he went on the obligatory media book tour to promote it, and he was, as expected, warmly fawned over by the press. Possibly, no one was more swooning over his appearance than Lawrence O’Donnell, who made it clear even before Tony took a seat at Larry’s desk that he would not burden the doctor with pesky questions of a journalistic nature.
No one in our lifetimes has saved more lives. We can never thank him enough. But I will try. https://t.co/V0EfY9L41Q
— Lawrence O’Donnell (@Lawrence) June 21, 2024
Distinguished Local Reporting
When Justin Timberlake was arrested for DWI in Sag Harbor, Bashinsky sprung into action to do a deep investigation — into the cop who busted the singer. According to her report, the arresting officer is angering many residents in the municipality for his unacceptable behavior…of enforcing the law. One citizen detailed how they had been pulled over for a traffic violation by the oppressive officer and let go with just a warning — but the incident completely interrupted their morning workout! Another offered their insight into the performance of this lawman.
In the three short months he’s been on the force, he’s already become known for his pull-over attempts, earning himself a nickname of ‘the Sag Harbor Nazi’ and a ‘little red-headed dips**t’ among the Hamptons’ wealthy residents.
Sag Harbor cop who didn’t recognize Justin Timberlake during DWI arrest is unmasked as rookie Michael Arkinson… and he’s been infuriating the Hamptons elite for months https://t.co/QNgzeDtomY pic.twitter.com/3RUuJaPNl5
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) June 22, 2024
Distinguished Cultural Commentary
It was a few years back when there was supposedly a movement in which white supremacist Trump supporters were claiming milk as their symbol of…well, we aren’t exactly sure what the hell they were claiming. Now, a British research project is being undertaken to look into the matter seriously. Or, probably more accurately, they are soaking the government for money as they explore the racial aspects of lactose consumption.
Taxpayer-funded enterprise will study ‘political nature’ of ‘white supremacist’ dairy product. A taxpayer-funded project will research the connections between “milk and colonialism”. One of the experts involved in the project has argued that milk is Northern European and a “white supremacist” imposition on other cultures.
One of the researchers previously participated in a panel discussion on the topic of Milk and Whiteness. The discussion was to “explore milk’s associations with purity and whiteness and the racialized politics of diet and nutrition,” according to the website of the museum conducting this project.
This leaves us with this question: Is chocolate milk considered an appropriate vestige of intersectionality, OR can it be considered a sign of cultural appropriation???
🔵 Academic project to research links between ‘milk and colonialism’ https://t.co/INvHYoE8Iv
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) June 23, 2024
Distinguished Cultural Criticism
In a similar fashion, we get this polemic from The Atlantic about how we — well, it is rather straightforward — ruined rain! Yes, it is about climate change, and yes, there are no positive aspects to this. Cited is one such cloudburst here in Florida, where a month’s worth of precipitation fell in a matter of days. This was a developing tropical system that stalled over the state, as hurricane season is underway, but no — we get told this is regarded as a “100-year storm” or such.
To get a sense of the balanced approach to the topic one need only read the opening sentence: “Water gave every living thing on Earth the gift of existence. And yet, of late, it seems determined to wipe us out.” All we can say is that given the fact that it is declared that rain has been “ruined,” it means that it cannot be fixed. Therefore, the best thing we can do is learn to deal with it.
Water gave us the gift of existence. Extreme rainfall reminds us how we’re mistreating it under climate change, @marinakoren writes. https://t.co/qp5KABn6dI
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) June 22, 2024
Channel 7 News, Miami
The Quaker Rice Cakes Honorarium Certificate for Non-Story Reporting
- WSVN Channel 7 News, Miami
Following the Boston Celtics victory to secure the NBA Championship, the team decided to take a trip down to South Beach to celebrate. All well and fine, but it is unclear how much vested interest there would be for this detail in the region.
But more than this, it makes very little sense why the Miami news station felt the need to scramble its news chopper to capture LIVE footage of the commercial flight as it landed at Miami International Airport.
LIVE: The Boston Celtics have arrived in Miami a day after claiming the franchise’s 18th championship, breaking a tie with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most in league history. https://t.co/fXaERAb6Be
— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) June 18, 2024
