We pull together this year’s most absurd media moments nominated for the Golden Remingtons, calling out sloppy takes, clumsy corrections, and stories that turned attention into mockery, with nominees spanning international reporting, sports columns, local TV bits, and culture coverage.
It is time for another round of nominating the most egregious press performances of the year. The Golden Remington Awards salute instances of poor judgment, lazy sourcing, and tone-deaf framing that earned mockery rather than trust. These nominations collect examples where reporters and outlets missed the mark and made headlines for the wrong reasons.
- Fraser Meyers – Spiked
The “Sophie of Dundee” case went global when a teen defended her sister from adult attackers and was initially treated like the wrongdoer. Scottish authorities first suggested she was at fault, prompting criticism of how European institutions sometimes handle such incidents. Later charges against the adults corrected the record, but the initial reaction mattered.
Fraser Meyers wrote a column that shifted from criticism to admission, but the correction read more like a sidestep than a full accountability moment. He blamed police and cast detractors as biased, even though video evidence showed Sophie warning that attackers were targeting her 12-year-old sister. That posture felt like an after-the-fact attempt to reshape narrative ownership.
“The rogues’ gallery of bullshitters who leapt on the case, proclaiming to know the truth from 44 seconds of out-of-context footage, gave me every reason to doubt their version of events.
- Bill Plaschke – Los Angeles Times
The LA Dodgers, World Series champions, accepted a White House invitation and some columnists took it as a personal affront. Bill Plaschke’s reaction felt less like analysis and more like assuming his own offense represented every fan’s feelings. That leap from individual opinion to broad claim undermined the nuance sports writing needs.
- Jacob Wass – TMZ
TMZ’s D.C. reporting has been entertaining to watch, usually for reasons other outlets might call “unconventional.” One especially odd exchange had stringer Jacob Wass ask Senator John Fetterman about actor Larry David saying he was embarrassed to be American over a White House MMA event. The question missed context and landed awkwardly.
Fetterman answered with a cultural reference, telling the reporter to “Lighten up, Francis,” and Wass visibly faltered because he didn’t catch the joke. It made for a painfully funny moment where a field reporter’s ignorance became the story, not the substance of the senator’s response.
https://x.com/spikedonline/status/2066913796300419544
- Jesse Gary – KTVO Fox Channel 2
A San Francisco report that should have been framed as progress instead highlighted a business problem created by declining crime. The story noted a drop in automobile break-ins, which is plainly good news for residents. Yet the angle quickly turned to how auto-repair shops were hurt by fewer smash-and-grab jobs, a baffling attempt to find bad news in improvement.
That approach felt emblematic of a beat that searches for conflict where none needs to be manufactured. The result was a report that treated safe streets as a local tragedy for commerce rather than a public win.
- Editors – Outsports
During Pride Month, some baseball players wrote a Bible verse on their caps and the reaction ballooned into a supposed scandal. Certain outlets pushed this into an assault on the LGBT community, but the actual fallout amounted to a single fan letter of concern. The coverage inflated the moment far beyond its real impact.
Outsports highlighted how small the reaction truly was, turning what could be a private expression into a manufactured public crisis. The handling shows how narrative escalation can create controversies where ordinary disagreements might have sufficed.
- Ashley Mackey and Joe Maxfield – Channel 6 Action News
Local coverage around Toy Story 5 fixated on the animation team’s ability to portray curly hair, calling it a breakthrough for representation. The station quoted creatives explaining they want films to reflect diverse audiences and authentic hairstyles, a sincere goal for many creators. Still, the presentation framed a technical improvement as cultural revolution, overstating its novelty.
It is fair to applaud authenticity in character design, but claiming it as groundbreaking ignores prior examples of inclusive animation. Celebrating incremental technical progress is fine, but dramatic language turned a modest step into a sweeping claim.
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