Posted on 12/27/2001 5:47:58 AM PST by Mr. Mulliner
Winning Quotes in the MRCs Awards for the Years Worst Reporting;The winning quotes in the MRCs Best Notable Quotables of 2001: The Fourteenth Annual Awards for the Years Worst Reporting, a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2001 -- actually December 2000 through November 2001.
To view the award winners and the top runners-up, as well as RealPlayer video clips for many of the broadcast quotes, go to where the MRCs Mez Djouadi has posted them: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/nq/2001/best2001/bestofnq2001.html
To view the special year-end 8-page issue as snail mail recipients saw it, access the Adobe Acrobat PDF version: http://www.mediaresearch.org/news/nq/2001/best2001/pdf/BestofNQ2001.pdf
To determine this years winners, a panel of 41 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers and media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of six to nine quotes in each category. First place selections were awarded three points, second place choices two points, with one point for the third place selections. Point totals, as determined by the MRCs Kristina Sewell, are listed in the brackets at the end of the attribution for each quote.
A list of the judges, who were generous with their time, appears after the quotes listed below.
Without further delay, the winning quotes in 15 award categories as presented in the December 24 edition of Notable Quotables:
Swiss Press Corps Award for Remaining Neutral in War CoverageNow, the list of the judges who gave generously of their time to complete our extensive ballot and return it to us in under two weeks:The Pentagon as a legitimate target? I actually dont have an opinion on that, and its important I not have an opinion on that as I sit here in my capacity right now....I can say the Pentagon got hit, I can say this is what their position is, this is what our position is, but for me to take a position this was right or wrong, I mean, thats perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps its for me dealing with my loved ones, perhaps its for my minister at church. But as a journalist I feel strongly thats something that I should not be taking a position on. Im supposed to figure out what is and what is not, not what ought to be.
-- ABC News President David Westin at a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism event on Oct. 23 shown four days later on C-SPAN. [83 points]
Media Hero Award
What an exhilarating moment it must have been for her the first First Lady in history to be elected to public office. There, for all the nay-sayers to see, was the woman who had finally come into her own, free at last to be smart, outspoken, independent, and provocative, all qualities she had been forced as First Lady, to hide under a bushel. Still she was voted one of Americas most admired women. Just wait. You aint seen nothin yet.
-- End of On My Mind ABCNews.com commentary by ABC anchor Carole Simpson, January 7. [82 points]
Pushing Bush to the Left Award
Arsenic in the water. Starting up the Cold War. Make as much carbon dioxide as you like. Laugh about it. Bush has set himself up as a huge target. And the arsenic is going to be the equivalent of what your boss [Newt Gingrich] did with cutting school lunches.
-- Newsweeks Eleanor Clift, addressing Tony Blankley, on the McLaughlin Group, March 24. [52 points]
Poisoning the Planet Award for Portraying Bush as Destroyer of the Earth
Remember when Ronald Reagan tried to save a few pennies on the school lunch program by classifying ketchup as a vegetable? Last week the Bush administration went further, axing a regulation that forced the meat industry to test hamburgers served in school for salmonella. Imagine, Mad Cow Disease among children, K through 12. The day it hit the papers the proposal was quickly withdrawn. [If] the Bush administration keeps trying to kill health and safety regulations at this pace, soon we wont be able to eat, drink or breathe.
-- Outrage of the Week from Time magazines Margaret Carlson, April 7 Capital Gang on CNN. [69 points]
Picking the Lockbox Award for Denouncing Bushs Tax Cut
Adios, surplus. When retired boomers dine on dog food, will they say thanks for that $600?
-- Newsweeks Conventional Wisdom box, assigning President Bush a down arrow, Sept. 3 issue. [52 points]
Carve Clinton Into Mount Rushmore Award
Throughout the eight years that he was in office, President Clinton warned us that the next great menace was international terrorism....He also brought unprecedented prosperity to our nation, and because of that, President [Bush] can use the surplus Mr. Clinton left behind to pay for many of the nations needs in this time of crisis....This lecture series is about the human spirit. To me and millions of others, President Clinton has always personified that. He is the man from Hope, and that is what he has given us, hope. We miss him. Thank you, Mr. President.
-- Former UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas introducing Clinton at Oct. 9 Greater Washington Society of Association Executives lecture shown on C-SPAN. [80 points]
Good Morning Morons Award
Bryant Gumbel: At the risk of starting an argument, are you a believer in global warming?
Mark McEwen: Absolutely.
Jane Clayson: Of course.
Julie Chen: Yeah.
Gumbel: So am I....And you wonder what its gonna take. I mean, is it gonna take some kind of a real catastrophe? I mean, does an iceberg have to come floating down the Hudson before somebody stands up and goes, Oh, yeah?
-- Exchange during CBS Early Shows co-op time at 7:25 am on April 18. [55 points]
Damn Those Conservatives Award
Bill Maher, host of ABCs Politically Incorrect: I do think, if it turns out that this beautiful young girl is gone, I think, and he [Condit] is responsible in some way, you have to look to Ken Starr for a little bit of guilt.
Larry King: Why?
Maher: Because, you know, Ken Starr made it so that you, in the old days, you had an affair with somebody, and you know, okay, you had an affair. The press didnt report it. They didnt make a political criminal case of it. Now, its almost like you have to get rid of them.
-- Exchange on CNNs Larry King Live, July 27. [52 points]
Selected Not Elected Award for Claiming Bush Is an Illegitimate President
If Bush is elected and its proved on a hand count that Gore actually carried Florida (not to mention the popular vote), what will the country say? Ooops isnt going to cut it....However agreeable and successful he turns out to be, the new President is doomed to be seen by many Americans as a bastard.
-- Jonathan Alter, Dec. 11, 2000 Newsweek. [55 points]
Department of Injustice Award for Denigrating John Ashcroft
Well, you know, Attorney General is actually an important job. Why cant they buy off the right wing with unimportant jobs? I mean, this is a sop, I assume, to buy off the wing nuts, but its like giving, I mean, the Attorney General counts, it matters.
-- Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas on Inside Washington, December 23, 2000. [55 points]
Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis
What are you, a bunch of Jesus freaks? You ought to be working for Fox.
-- CNN founder Ted Turner on Ash Wednesday to CNN employees with ash marks on their foreheads at Bernard Shaws retirement party, as reported March 6 on FNCs Special Report with Brit Hume. [73 points]
Euro-Envy Award for Advocating More Government Spending
NBC News reporter Keith Miller in Paris: Break out the band, bring on the drinks. The French are calling it a miracle. A government-mandated 35-hour work week is changing the French way of life. Two years ago, in an effort to create more jobs, the government imposed a shorter work week on large companies, forcing them to hire more workers....Sixty percent of those on the job say their lives have improved. These American women, all working in
France, have time for lunch and a life.
Avivah Wittenberg-Cox: More Americans should be more aware that an economy as successful as the French one managed to be successful without giving up everything else in life.
Katie Couric, following the end of Millers taped piece: So great that young mother being able to come home at three every day and spend that time with her child. Isnt that nice? The French, theyve got it right, dont they?
-- NBCs Today, August 1. [78 points]
Nobody Here But Us Apolitical Observers Award for Denying Liberal Bias
Newsweeks Evan Thomas: There is a perception, even among journalists, that the [New York] Times is going a little bit left, is getting more liberal, and thats disquieting.
Time magazines Jack White: Thats a lot of hokum, with all due respect to Evan. There is no liberal bias in the press in the whole. In fact, if there is a bias, its on the other side. Its hard to find a person really, truly, of the liberal persuasion who are making any important decisions in any important media institutions in this country now. Ive looked for them, I consider myself one, I have very few birds of a like feather around.
-- Exchange on the September 1 Inside Washington. [56 points]
Blame America First Award
Am I angry? You bet I am. I am an American citizen, and my leaders have taken my money to fund mass murder. And now my friends have paid the price with their lives. Keep crying, Mr. Bush. Keep running to Omaha or wherever it is you go while others die, just as you ran during Vietnam while claiming to be on duty in the Air National Guard. Nine boys from my high school died in that miserable war. And now you are asking for unity so you can start another one? Do not insult me or my country like this! Yes, I, too, will be in church at noon today, on this national day of mourning. I will pray for you, and us, and the children of New York, and the children of this sad and ugly world.
-- Message posted by left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore on his Web site, September 14. [54 points]
Glimpses of Patriotism Award
For once, lets have no grief counselors standing by with banal consolations, as if the purpose, in the midst of all this, were merely to make everyone feel better as quickly as possible. We shouldnt feel better. For once, lets have no fatuous rhetoric about healing. Healing is inappropriate now, and dangerous. There will be time later for the tears of sorrow. A day cannot live in infamy without the nourishment of rage. Lets have rage....
As the bodies are counted, into the thousands and thousands, hatred will not, I think, be a difficult emotion to summon. Is the medicine too strong? Call it, rather, a wholesome and intelligent enmity....Anyone who does not loathe the people who did these things, and the people who cheer them on, is too philosophical for decent company....The worst times, as we see, separate the civilized of the world from the uncivilized. This is the moment of clarity. Let the civilized toughen up, and let the uncivilized take their chances in the game they started.
-- Lance Morrow in a special edition of Time published after the September 11 terrorist attacks. [67 points]
-- Chuck Asay, editorial cartoonist, The Gazette in Colorado Springs
-- Brent Baker, Editor of MRCs CyberAlert and Notable Quotables
-- Mark Belling, talk show host, WISN in Milwaukee
-- L. Brent Bozell III, President of the Media Research Center
-- David Brudnoy, radio talk show host, WBZ in Boston; journalism professor at Boston Univ.
-- Priscilla Buckley, Contributing Editor of National Review
-- Mark Davis, talk show host, ABC Radio and WBAP in Dallas-Ft. Worth; columnist, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
-- Midge Decter, author; Trustee for the Heritage Foundation
-- Jim Eason, KSFO in San Francisco talk show host, emeritus
-- Barry Farber, radio talk show host
-- Eric Fettmann, columnist and Associate Editorial Page Editor, New York Post
-- David Gold, syndicated radio talk show host
-- Tim Graham, White House correspondent, World magazine
-- Stephen Hayes, staff writer for The Weekly Standard
-- Kirk Healy, Executive Producer, WDBO Radio in Orlando
-- Quin Hillyer, editorial writer, Mobile Register
-- Marie Kaigler, radio talk show host, Detroit
-- Cliff Kincaid, commentator
-- Mark Larson, talk show host and GM at KCBQ/KPRZ in San Diego
-- Jason Lewis, talk show host, KSTP in Minneapolis/St. Paul
-- Ross Mackenzie, Editor of the editorial page, Richmond Times-Dispatch
-- Tony Macrini, talk show host, WNIS in Norfolk, Virginia
-- Michelle Malkin, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor
-- Patrick McGuigan, Editor of the editorial page, The Oklahoman
-- Jan Mickelson, talk show host, WHO Des Moines/WMT Cedar Rapids
-- Wes Minter, Operations Manager and talk host, KRMG in Tulsa
-- Jane Norris, talk show host, WHAS in Louisville
-- Rich Noyes, Director of Media Analysis for the Media Research Center
-- Marvin Olasky, Senior Fellow, Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty; Editor of World magazine
-- Janet Parshall, nationally syndicated radio talk show host
-- Henry Payne, editorial cartoonist, The Detroit News
-- Wladyslaw Pleszczynski, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution
-- Mike Rosen, talk show host, KOA in Denver; columnist, Denver Rocky Mountain News
-- Ted J. Smith III, Professor of journalism, Virginia Commonwealth U.
-- Philip Terzian, nationally syndicated columnist
-- Bruce Tinsley, Mallard Fillmore cartoonist
-- Cal Thomas, syndicated columnist; panelist on FNCs Fox Newswatch
-- Armstrong Williams, nationally syndicated columnist
-- Dick Williams, columnist; host of Atlantas Georgia Gang
-- Walter Williams, Professor of economics, George Mason University
-- Thomas Winter, Editor-in-Chief of Human Events
Her name will no doubt appear many times in this year's collection of worst reporting awards, rivaling Bryant Gumbel.
Well, SY, I read through them once, but to pick my favorite one would require that I would have to suffer through them again. I don't think I could stomach that at the moment.
Articles like this by the MRC, IMHO, are the most concise and persuasive evidence available that the media are horribly biased.
I hope you had a splendid Christmas and that God keeps you and your loved ones safe and prosperous in the new year.
I'd personally like to take a moment to thank these people listed for what they've done in the face of uncertainty & some mighty strange times media-wise, indeed.
Methinks that listing of people are the future face of the new, emerging media we'll all be seeing a lot more of in the coming months & years.
The worst dream we of the political right could've imagined happened when the union of so many splinter groups of freaks & misfits on our Left these past ten years took place; & their paltry successes wouldn't have been possible without the help of their Lamestream pals.
Now, as those small, pathetic splinter-forces unravel at the seams, begin to face the lie themselves & all the chaos that implies?
They'll surely suffer their long overdue ideological hangover induced by nothing less than their America-HATING reckless abandon.
Concurrently, we of the Right are set to temper our individuality long enough to come together & assemble a mighty force to be dealt with.
Balance, freedom, our American way is our only goal & very close at hand.
It's then time for the Left to have a few nightmares of their own; as their time has come and gone.
A special thank you to the CCRM core-peoples is also in order.
Starting with the nicest person anyone on this forum could or will ever know...and a patriot without equal, I might add; ol' bert.
There's Peacerose, Caly, & FGS...whose efforts at achieving the seemingly impossible cannot be measured; they're simply priceless to the cause.
Lastly, a thank you to this curious Singapore_Yank character.
Whose love for & of liberty, truth, & justice easily surpasses that of a large number of people who're living in the very nation who'd be known for embracing such virtue.
...nice job you guys; one & all.
To subscribe, send a message to: mrc-cyber-request@list.us.net. Put "subscribe" in the BODY of the message, NOT in the subject line. Problems and comments can be addressed to: cyber@mediaresearch.org
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Carve Clinton Into Mount Rushmore Award
Throughout the eight years that he was in office, President Clinton warned us that the next great menace was international terrorism....He also brought unprecedented prosperity to our nation, and because of that, President [Bush] can use the surplus Mr. Clinton left behind to pay for many of the nations needs in this time of crisis....This lecture series is about the human spirit. To me and millions of others, President Clinton has always personified that. He is the man from Hope, and that is what he has given us, hope. We miss him. Thank you, Mr. President.
-- Former UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas introducing Clinton at Oct. 9 Greater Washington Society of Association Executives lecture shown on C-SPAN. [80 points]
CLICK on this link to email the wicked witch of the left:
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People that think Bill Clinton was(is) soooo grrreeeaat are the most foolish people to walk on the face of the earth. And to think individuals get paid to write that tripe. Hopeless indeed.
A hollow victory, 'Yank.
Foolin' me has to be one of the easier things in life there is.
In any event, welcome home.
Wished I could say it's safer here; but then, we've already had our one, daily alotted laugh, eh? :o)
Your uncertainty concerning returning to the pacific rim?
Reminds me of something which happened to me some 8 years ago.
A dear friend of mine moved to Charlotte, NC.
At some point he tired of my emails whining about Liberal Illinois, where I'd been living at the time -- as opposed to his new [more] conservative home in NC?
He suggested I pack-up Ma and my business & move down to NC, closer to him.
I told him I'd sure enjoy the area & people, alright; but, I suspected I was badly needed in the Champaign-Urbana area, more.
One of my more ideologically pious moments, I like to believe. {g}
...hell's bells; the net-effect was to shut me & my whining up, forevermore.
Yes, I have and I'm looking forward to more. I'm more interested in the reception Goldberg's book gets than in the book itself.
-- Former UPI White House reporter Helen Thomas introducing Clinton at Oct. 9 Greater Washington Society of Association Executives lecture shown on C-SPAN. [80 points]
Helen is a 100% "I hate Republicans" liberal. I'm sorry, but Klinton never warned us about terrorism - in fact he lied and covered it up Helen. He never met with his CIA Director because he did not see it as important,
He did nothing over 8 years and at the end of his term he pardoned FALN terrorists who killed 6 people and maimed many others including NY's finest. He also pardoned 2 60's lefty terrorists of the Weathermen Underground who took part in the murder of at least 3 people, including more NYPD officers, as well as bombed the office of Senator Byrd in 1983.
Well that's all the proof I need.
He is the man from Hope, and that is what he has given us, hope. We miss him. Thank you, Mr. President.(Helen Thomas)
I'm surprised she could say anything with her mouth full...YIKES!!!
Mark McEwen: Absolutely.
Jane Clayson: Of course.
Julie Chen: Yeah.
That is good logic. Wherever there are four people who agree on something, that something should be made into law or public policy.
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