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As 2012 comes to a close, some media watchdogs on the right and left have been announcing awards, but these are not the kinds of awards you want to win.
Award from the Right
On the right, media watchdog Media Research Center has a whole page of awards. Here's a highlight:
MRC's "Never Let a Crisis Go to Waste" Award for Exploiting Tragedy to Promote Liberalism Award goes to Brian Ross for this televised conversation he had after the Aurora theater shooting.
Co-host George Stephanopoulos: “I want to go to Brian Ross here, because, Brian, you’ve been looking — investigating the background of Jim Holmes here, and you’ve found something that might be significant.”
Correspondent Brian Ross: “There is a Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now, we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes. But it’s Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.”
— ABC’s Good Morning America, during July 20 coverage of the movie theater shooting.
A few hours later they announced a correction: The Jim Holmes of Tea Party had nothing to do with the Jim Holmes of Aurora.
Award from the Left
On the left, media watchdog Media Matters for America handed out a Climate Change Misformer of the Year Award to Marc Morano, who they describe as "paid by an industry-funded group to run the climate denial website ClimateDepot.com."
Media Matters for America reports:
"In December CNN's Piers Morgan hosted a 'debate' on climate change between Marc Morano and Bill Nye 'The Science Guy' without disclosing that Morano has no scientific background and is paid by an industry-funded organization. During the segment, Morano misleadingly claimed that 'we've gone 16 years without global warming according to UN data…' "
A CNN blog about the show also referred to Morano as an "expert" on the climate issue. According to Media Matters, "The blog did not clarify that the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is a problem and is driven by human activity."
We're welcoming in 2013
The year 2012 was full of news coverage contrasts, especially due to the presidential election. But hey, we're still friends and we'll be here throughout 2013 to continue to strive to show all sides of the big stories and big issues.