2011 P.U.-litzers: Journalism That Doesn't Pass the Smell Test

[alp227]

It's that time of year again--when FAIR goes through the year's archives to collect a sampling of the worst moments of corporate media spin and malfeasance.

The competition was, as always, fierce. And in special recognition of the media's befuddled approach to the Occupy Wall Street movement, next week will see the release of a second round of OWS-related P.U.-litzers.



--Wacky Conspiracy Award: CBS's Steve Kroft

Kroft (60 Minutes, 1/30/11) explained the apparently demented worldview of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange:
Julian Assange is not your average journalist or publisher, and some have argued that he is not really a journalist at all. He is an anti-establishment ideologue with conspiratorial views. He believes large government institutions use secrecy to suppress the truth and he distrusts the mainstream media for playing along.

full: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4449

[liberalmuse.com]

1. My favorite:

"--Tortured Headline Award: New York Times

The Justice Department's decision to drop almost all of its investigations into CIA torture was headlined like this on Democracy Now!: "Justice Dept Drops 99 of 101 Cases Against CIA."

At the New York Times (7/1/11), though, the glass was 2 percent full: "U.S. Widens Inquiries Into 2 Jail Deaths." "