FAIR founder Jeff Cohen, along with media columnist Norman Solomon, has announced this year’s P.U.-litzer Prizes, recognizing “some of the nation’s stinkiest media performances” of the year. Out of what must have been a vast field of worthy nominees (cf 90 percent of CJR’s commentary on assorted media inanities), the judges selected ten winners. Among them:
– Chris Matthews, winning the HOT FOR OBAMA PRIZE for his infamous “My, I felt this thrill going up my leg” commentary. (Matthews, overcoming staggering odds, wins another award for his racially charged discussion of Obama’s bowling dexterity.)
– Fox News, winning the BEYOND PARODY PRIZE for an online teaser for The O’Reilly Factor: “Obama bombarded by personal attacks. Are they legit? Ann Coulter comments.”
– The Wall Street Journal‘s Amy Chozik, winning for her infamous, ridiculous, Yahoo-message-board-sourced article arguing that Obama, “facing an overweight electorate,” might just be “too fit to be president.”
Megan Garber is an assistant editor at the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University. She was formerly a CJR staff writer.