Local Rag Bagging Awards for Stating the Obvious

The Austin American-Statesman has been awarded the Edward R. Murrow Award for "breaking news" because they managed to report on a shooting faster than any other local news outlet. Wow. That's like giving a Nobel Prize to a toddler for taking a dump in their diaper.

"Our newsroom understood that the community was being terrorized..."

No shit, Sherlock. Thanks for that groundbreaking insight, Courtney Sebesta. I'm sure the people being shot at had some idea too. Maybe next time, instead of "providing immediate and accurate information," you can try and, I don't know, stop the shooting from happening in the first place? Oh wait, that would require leaving your cozy newsroom and actually doing something. Never mind.

The award is supposedly one of the most prestigious in the news industry, which just goes to show how low the bar is these days. I mean, we're talking about an industry that thinks Brian Stelter is a legitimate journalist. So I'm not surprised they gave an award to a paper that did the bare minimum.

Here's what really happened: some dude with mental issues went on a shooting spree, and the Statesman reported on it. That's it. That's the whole story. You could've read the same thing on any other news site. But hey, let's give them an award anyway because why the hell not? It's not like journalism has any standards anymore.

URL: https://www.rtnda.org/pressreleases/2023/06/15/2023-edward-r-murrow-award-winners-announced/