The Best Notable Quotables of 2003
The 16th Annual Awards For The
Year’s Worst Reporting

     ALEXANDRIA, Va. --- A Boston Globe Magazine reporter’s callous comment has won this year’s “Quote of the Year” in the Media Research Center’s The Best Notable Quotables of 2003, The 16th Annual Awards For The Year’s Worst Reporting. The winning quote was selected by a nationwide panel of more than 40 editors, editorial writers, columnists, media critics, authors and talk show hosts, who also selected winners in 16 other categories. The “Quote of the Year” is included below, as are several category winners. To read the entire Best of NQ 2003, go to www.mediaresearch.org.

Begala & Carville Prize for Demonizing George W. Bush: “This is the worst President ever. He is the worst President in all American history.” – Hearst White House columnist Helen Thomas at a Society for Professional Journalism banquet, as quoted by John Bogert of the Torrance, California Daily Breeze, 1/19/03.

Politics of Meaninglessness Award for the Silliest Analysis: “To many New Yorkers, the scenes of a city under siege were achingly familiar. New Yorkers watching the televised bombing of Baghdad yesterday said they were riveted by the raw and uninterrupted display of American military might. But for some, the bombing brought back particularly visceral and chilling memories. They could not help thinking about Sept. 11, and how New York, too, was once under assault from the skies.” – New York Times reporter David Chen, in a March 22 news story headlined “Baghdad Bombing Brings Back Memories of 9/11.”

Al Franken Cheap Shot Award (for Lambasting Rush Limbaugh): “What must it be like to live in Rush Limbaugh’s world? A world where when anyone other than conservative, white men attempts to do anything or enter any profession, be it business, politics, art or sports, the only reason they’re allowed entry or, incredibly, attain excellence is because the standard was lowered. Be they liberals, people of color, women, the poor or anyone with an accent. … Edgy, controversial, brilliant. What a way to shake up intelligent sports commentary. Hitler would have killed in talk radio. He was edgy, too.” – CBS Sunday Morning contributor Nancy Giles, 10/5/03.

Good Morning Morons Award: “There’s an article in the Style section of the Washington Post this morning. It says you’ve logged 26 years of personal minutiae, filling 4,400 two-by-three inch notebooks, color-coded by season. An example: ’12:17’ – this is when you made the announcement – ‘Ascend stage, stumble, regain balance; 12:18: Applause, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name,’ plays (U2); 12:19: Clap, wave; 12:20: Adjust tie (red, white stripes); 12:21: Double thumbs up; 12:22: Sing along with National Anthem, right hand on heart.’ What, what do you do this for?!” – Katie Couric to Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.) on Today, May 7, apparently unaware the article she quoted from was a spoof of the presidential candidate’s diary.

Baghdad Bob Award for Parroting Enemy Propaganda:

Anchor Diane Sawyer: “I read this morning that he’s (Saddam Hussein) also said the love that the Iraqis have for him is so much greater than anything Americans feel for their President because he’s been loved for 35 years, he says, the whole 35 years.”

Reporter Dan Harris in Baghdad: “He is one to point out quite frequently that he is part of a historical trend in this country of restoring Iraq to its greatness, its historical greatness. He points out frequently that he was elected with a hundred percent margin recently.” – ABC’s Good Morning America, 3/7/03.

Winners were also selected in these categories: The Dominique de Villepin Snottiness Award for Whining About the War, The Barbra Streisand Political IQ Award for Celebrity Vapidity, The Invisible Liberal Award for Camouflaging Ideology, Media Suck-Up Award, Romanticizing the Rabble Award for Glorifying Protesters, Fruitless Plains of Poverty Award, Media Millionaires for Higher Taxes Award, What Liberal Media? Award, Damn Those Conservatives Award, Pompous Peter Award for Jennings’ Arrogant Condescension and the Bill Moyers Sanctimony Award.

• Read the entire The Best Notable Quotables of 2003