Labor unions might not be the best judges of "responsible journalism." Brian Maloney at the Radio Equalizer blog is horrified that harsh left-wing talk radio host Randi Rhodes was honored for "responsible journalism" from a probation officers union in Los Angeles County.
If in need of further evidence that our Californian "progressive" friends have indeed lost their marbles, we direct you to today's Exhibit A...Signed by Assemblyman Tony Mendoza (D-56), the public sector labor union-sponsored award doesn't appear to specify any particular examples of excellence in reporting.
Most media elites don't recognize talk-radio hosts as "journalists" at all, as certainly liberal media elites would scoff at Rush Limbaugh winning a journalism award. Premiere Networks, the syndicators of the Rhodes show, issued a press release:
LOS ANGELES, June 27, 2011 – On Friday, June 24, Premiere Networks host Randi Rhodes received the Responsible Journalism Award from the Los Angeles County Deputy Probation Officers Union, AFSCME, Local 685. Rhodes was presented with the award during the union’s eighth annual awards banquet and scholarship presentation at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Universal City, Calif.
Maloney wondered if Rhodes really deserved an award for responsibility to the truth considering these episodes:
-- Her airing of a "parody" skit suggesting Mitt Romney supporters would engage in mass murder if John McCain were to secure the 2008 GOP presidential nomination
-- Claiming John McCain "well-treated" in Vietnam as a POW and was "very friendly with the Vietnamese."
-- Asserting after the Osama bin Laden takedown in May that "Bush knew" where Osama bin Laden was hiding all along but allowed him to remain there because they "needed a bogeyman."
We could add a few recent Rhodes apples ourselves:
-- Randi Rhodes: Conservatives Would Oppose Shakespeare...and 'Want to Shoot Congressmen and Poets'
-- Randi Rhodes: The GOP's 2012 Strategy Is 'To Starve You!'
Wait: that last one does sound a lot like what unions would like you to "know."
