Here Is the Next Generation of Right Wing Media Stars

By Howard Polskin, May 24, 2023

Who’s the next Tucker Carlson? Or Rush Limbaugh? The conservative media watchdog group, the Media Research Center, believes it may have some answers. For the second year in a row, the Virginia-based organization has released it Bulldog Awards, “honoring conservatives in the media who truly deserve accolades yet will never receive them from the news media establishment.”

The awards were announced May 9 – the day after the Pulitzer Prizes. That was no coincidence.

“The Pulitzers always went to liberals,” Brent Baker, MRC’s vice president for research, told me. “There’s good journalism beyond what will ever be seen by the Pulitzer people or any of the other journalism awards. We’re trying to give these journalists recognition for their fine work.”

Baker’s boss, MRC founder and President Brent Bozell, was even more blunt describing the mission of the awards. “The Bulldog Award winners are trusted truth-tellers, unlike left-wing operative who win Pulitzers,” he was quoted in a company press release. “”These are courageous individuals dedicated to informing Americans about stories the left media ignore.”

The Bulldog winners were chosen by the 10-person staff of MRC’s NewsBusters, a website founded in 2005 that monitors and criticizes mainstream media (I profiled NewsBusters for the Columbia Journalism Review in 2020).

And the winners are:

Outstanding Podcast: Matt Walsh

Walsh made headlines and waves in the past year for his vocal opposition to transgender ideology. He also produced the controversial documentary “What Is a Woman?”

Outstanding Radio Talk Show Host: Chris Plante

The son of a legendary CBS News correspondent, Plante is known for skewering liberal politicians on his nationally s syndicated radio talk show originating from WMAL-FM radio in the nation’s capital. Earlier this month, the former CNN Pentagon correspondent made his debut in a Newsmax’s new primetime program “Chris Plante The Right Squad.”

Outstanding Blogger: Mary Margaret Olohan

The senior writer for the Daily Signal has been recognized as one of the country’s most respected pro-life reporters, according to MRC. Earlier this week, she broke a big story that Fox News employees are permitted to use company bathrooms that align with their gender identity as well as their birth sex.

Outstanding Columnist: Karol Markowicz

Markowicz’s bylines have appeared in the NY Post, Foxnews.com, Spectator World and Washington Examiner magazine. The USSR-born journalist has written frequently about the impact of Covid lockdowns from a conservative perspective. Her bio states that she is a veteran of Republican campaigns in four states (although no details were revealed). Markowicz is the co-author of the 2023 book Stolen Youth, which argues that radicals are erasing innocence and indoctrinating a generation.

Outstanding Social Media Personality: Chaya Raichik

With more than two millions followers, her anti-woke Libs of TikTok Twitter account has become a powerful megaphone for her polarizing views such as advocating that teachers who come out to their students should be immediately fired. She wrote anonymously but was controversially outed a year ago by the Washington Post .

Outstanding Investigative Journalism: Andrew Kerr

The Washington Free Beacon reporter, who has also worked for the Washington Examiner and Daily Caller, specializes in deep dives about Hunter Biden, BLM funding and Covid. For instance, by scouring the 2022 tax returns for BLM, Kerr revealed in his May 23 article that the organization “hemorrhaged cash” and “suffered blistering investment losses” last year.

Lifetime Achievement Award: Brit Hume

The Fox News chief political analyst has been with the network since 1997, shortly after its founding. Previously, he had worked for 23 years at ABC News.

Howard Polskin is the President and Founder of TheRighting.

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