It’s time to find out who had the Worst Media Quote of the Week. This interactive series is where you — our loyal NewsBusters visitors and MRC supporters — get to vote on which leftist journalist or celebrity had the worst media quote of the week.   Much appreciation to all who voted last week via NewsBusters and the MRC’s various social media sites (Facebook, Instagram and X.com).   The results of the Worst Media Quote of the Week are in and the winner is… Jimmy Kimmel! The ABC late-night talk show host with 66 percent of the vote. Kimmel took first place for claiming that Republicans are protecting “pedophiles” and “rapists,” while attacking illegals who are “raising your children.” Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker came in second place with 20 percent. Finishing last was former CNN anchor Don Lemon at 14 percent.  Check out the following clip (via the MRC Video team) to see the nominees in action:     POLL: Worst Media Quote of the Week Don Lemon: Our democracy can be gone in a second under Trump Kathleen Parker: Trump has taken a page from Hitler's Mein Kampf Jimmy Kimmel: GOP is protecting pedos and rapists, while illegals are raising your kids@TJTAW44 @Justine_Brooke pic.twitter.com/PwJHow2pAu — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 12, 2026   WINNER (66 percent of the vote)   Jimmy Kimmel: Republicans Are Protecting “Pedophiles” and “Rapists,” While Attacking Illegals Who Are “Raising Your Children” Rep. Lisa McClain: “And you know what the Democrats want to do? Let’s release them into your communities. And let’s celebrate the criminals. Let’s villainize the ICE agents and celebrate the people who are raping your children.”Host Jimmy Kimmel: “I think she meant to say raising your children? I mean, listen, could you imagine how ignorant these people are screaming about pedophiles and rapists while members of their own party seem to be doing everything they can to protect the pedophiles and the rapists in the Epstein files.”— ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, February 10.   SECOND PLACE (20 percent of the vote)   Kathleen Parker: Trump Has “Taken a Page” from Hitler’s Mein Kampf “He’s [Donald Trump] still clinging again to the 2020 — we know it was a fully regular election he lost. And he can’t let it go because I think he’s taken a page from Mein Kampf, frankly, you know, the saying that if you say — tell a big lie often enough and repeat it, then people will believe it.”— Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker on PBS’s News Hour, February 6.   THIRD PLACE (14 percent of the vote)   Don Lemon: “Our Democracy Can Be Gone In a Second” Under Trump  “We are watching an administration right now that treats the Constitution not as a covenant but as an inconvenience. That they don’t have to abide by. ‘This is inconvenient and this is getting in our way.’ It’s authoritarianism and we need to be careful because the very little that’s left in our democracy can be gone in a second – if it’s not too late already.”— Former CNN anchor Don Lemon’s speech at the Human Rights Campaign dinner, February 7.   Thanks again to all who participated!    Sponsored by James P. Jimirro

The Big Four News Apps just revealed a new low of depravity, ignoring a significant win that could encourage victims across the nation to seek justice. Despite a young woman winning a multi-million dollar judgment against her psychologist and her surgeon in a potential landmark transgender surgery case, the digital gatekeepers shamelessly buried her story.  Apple News, Google News, Microsoft’s MSN and Yahoo News failed to cover the Jan. 30 judgment in the case Fox Varian v. Kenneth Einhorn PhD et al even once in their morning editions during the seven days that followed. From Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, the Big Four News Apps completely ignored detransitioner Fox Varian’s legal victory and its broader impact. Instead, they continued feeding readers stories from the elitist media alongside radical leftist headlines and clickbait.  Varian was awarded $1.6 million in damages with an additional $400,000 for her future medical expenses. The jury decided against her surgeon and psychologist for malpractice, ignoring standards of care and safety. The New York Post described Varian’s case in terms that suggest it could be a landmark outcome: the “first detransitioner malpractice lawsuit in the nation to go to trial and win.”  MRC’s Findings The Big Four News Apps highlighted zero stories about the judgment in the Fox Varian v. Kenneth Einhorn PhD et al case from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6.   Apple News, Google News, Microsoft’s MSN and Yahoo News provided 363 articles from left-leaning outlets compared to 17 right-leaning sources during the period. Examples include a bevy of articles from Al Jazeera, HuffPost, MS Now, Salon and The Daily Beast, alongside other radical leftist, elitist media outlets.  The Big Four News Apps Ignored the Varian Case While Pushing Predominantly Leftist Outlets From Jan. 31 through Feb. 6, the Big Four News Apps did not share a single article between them on the Varian case. Between them, they ran 560 stories in their morning editions from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, ignoring a glut of case coverage from both right-leaning media and leftist outlets. Instead, the Big Four News Apps pushed articles from a host of leftist outlets compared to relatively few from right-leaning sources. For example, they provided 72 from Yahoo.com, 29 from The New York Times, 24 from USA Today, 23 from BuzzFeed.com and 23 from ABC News. Meanwhile, there were merely 16 Fox News articles and only one from the New York Post. While Apple News ignored the Varian case entirely, the news app still found room to provide some unrelated coverage of transgenderism. Apple News supplied an NBC News article, which informs users about how “a trans woman’s removal from a restroom tears apart competitive pinball.” Google News relied heavily on the elitist media, favoring outlets such as the The New York Times (17), CNN (10) and The Guardian (9). Google News pushed numerous stories about ICE in Minnesota, including a Virginia protest for an anti-ICE protester shot in Minneapolis.  Microsoft’s MSN provided anything but Varian’s successful suit, bringing users an abundance of clickbait instead. For example, on Feb. 2, Microsoft’s MSN supplied a Huffpost article headlined “My Dad Was Gay — But Married To My Mom For 64 Years. As She Died, I Overheard Something I Can't Forget.”  Meanwhile, Yahoo News followed a similar pattern, featuring 22 BuzzFeed articles on a variety of topics, including borrowed pants, Tennis star Serena Williams’ weight, and “40 Infuriating (But Also Darkly Funny) Photos Of Dumb People Whose Brains Must've Leaked Out Of Their Ears," while omitting the Varian case. Yahoo News also supplied 12 articles from leftist Salon, including a story headlined “A wake-up call for white Americans” and another with the outrageous headline “Trump’s second term: Jan. 6 on a grand scale.” The Big Four News Apps’ suppression of right-leaning outlets matters because of the enormous reach they wield. Apple News comes preinstalled on every iPhone, while Google News is standard on Android devices. Together, iPhones and Android phones account for 99.74% of the U.S. smartphone market. Microsoft’s MSN, meanwhile, comes preinstalled on Windows computers. More disturbing still, polling shows that 86% of Americans “at least sometimes” rely on digital devices for the news. As a result, these two news apps have a massive impact on what stories and outlets Americans see.  And the choice to ignore Varian’s suit in favor of clickbait, leftist and elitist media did not happen in a vacuum. Repeated MRC studies have demonstrated that all four digital gatekeepers use their massive clout to minimize important stories, including those related to protecting the unborn or exposing potential fraud, and the tech giants have also shown an incredible propensity for leftist bias. Apple News has been particularly extreme, failing to feature a single right-leaning article until finally sharing one from Fox News on the 100th day of MRC tracking its morning edition results. Methodology: During the time period Jan. 31, 2026 - Feb. 6, 2026, MRC researchers examined the top 20 stories featured on Apple News (the app) and web versions of Google News, Microsoft’s MSN and Yahoo News each day at approximately 8:30 AM ET. MRC researchers used the AllSides media bias ratings, which categorize an outlet as “left,” “lean left,” “center,” “lean right” or “right” to determine the overall bias presented by Apple News and analyzed the results. Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable. 

On Monday afternoon in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, there was sadly the latest case of trangender violence inflicted on innocents refusing to celebrate their deranged life choices and rejection of basic biology as a man pretending to be a woman stormed his son’s high school hockey game and killed two, injuring three, and dying by suicide. By Tuesday morning when these facts had come to light, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS Mornings barely covered it and did the bidding the pro-trans cult by minimizing the shooter’s delusions. Despite having an editor-in-chief in Bari Weiss who made a name for herself in part by being anti-woke and a believer of basic biology, CBS Mornings only gave it 27 seconds courtesy of a five-sentence news brief from featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers. WATCH: This 27-second news brief was all the Bari Weiss-led ‘CBS Mornings’ had on the transgender shooter who killed two and injured three at a Rhode Island youth hockey game. Notice Vlad Duthiers refused to call the shooter transgender, only saying “the shooter had a history of… pic.twitter.com/phpOa0aLPe — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 17, 2026 The only allusion to the shooter was when he said in the third sentence that CBS’s “Rhode Island affiliate WPRI obtained court records showing that the shooter had a history of conflicts with family, some involving the shooter’s gender identity.” Duthiers stayed away from having to render judgement on the pronouns, instead calling Dorgan “the shooter.” ABC’s Good Morning America wasn’t any better in being honest with viewers about what happened. Co-host Michael Strahan twice teased “chaos” at the hockey game, adding in a second that the show would dive into “[w]hat we know about the person that stepped into help stop the gunman.” “Hockey rink horror. Deadly gunfire ringing out at a high school game. Young players and families run and skate for cover. This morning, what we know about the person who stepped into help stop the gunman,” co-host Robin Roberts said in another tease. Wait, neither respected Dorgan’s pronouns! Someone tell GLAAD. That rare dispensing with playing word games to please the trans mob continued into the actual coverage, which lasted a minute and 47 seconds. Co-host George Stephanopoulos began: “We’re gonna turn now to the deadly shooting at a high school hockey game in Rhode Island. The gunman killed two people, injured three more before killing himself.” Correspondent Stephanie Ramos only once identified Dorgan and his mental struggles at the very end, otherwise sticking to “the gunman” and the motive as having been “a targeted family dispute.” ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ did everything it could to completely omit the Rhode Island hockey shooter was transgender, only saying the shooter was “Robert Dorgan, who also went by Roberta.” Here was the closest Stephanie Ramos got at the very end... “Investigators say the… pic.twitter.com/pK9zpLYsDb — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 17, 2026 After describing the video from behind the player benches that caught the sounds of gunfire, Ramos finally arrived at the shooter, but didn’t show any of the glaring, striking images of the man cosplaying in tight dresses with a stuffed chest. All she said was the following: Investigators say the shooter, identified by police as 56-year-old Robert Dorgan who also went by Roberta, entered the arena carrying multiple weapons appearing to target a family member...His daughter telling WCVB he struggled with mental health issues. NBC’s Today went a different direction in both the amount of coverage (four minutes and 23 seconds) and going further than the others to emphasize the gunman’s motives being tied to being trans. In the first hour, co-host Craig Melvin threw to correspondent Emilie Ikeda on scene by explaining “we’re learning more about a terrifying shooting that unfolded in the middle of a high school hockey game in Rhode Island” that left “three people...dead, including the suspected shooter.” Ikeda said the game “was supposed to be a day of celebration — senior night for high school hockey players,” but “quickly turned into terror at this hockey rink” and collateral damage in “what police describe as an isolated, targeted family dispute[.]”  In contrast to ABC’s ‘GMA’ and ‘CBS Mornings,’ NBC’s ‘Today’ had a segment in each hour about the Rhode Island transgender shooting and both times pointed out the shooter wanted to become a woman, showed photos of the man in a dress, defended trans Rep. McBride (D-DE) on X, and… pic.twitter.com/PQECIyn2h3 — Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) February 17, 2026 Following sound from a dispatcher and the Pawtucket police chief, Ikeda dipped into the shooter’s state of mind (or lack thereof). This was far less than one would want or would happen if, say, the shooter were a straight, white male with a MAGA hat: Overnight, authorities identifying the shooter as Robert Dorgan, who they say went by Roberta Espositso. Social media showing Dorgan discussing getting gender reassignment surgery and recently responding to attacks on a transgender congresswoman, writing “do not wonder why we Go BESERK.” Police say it appears the suspect died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, adding authorities retrieved multiple firearms from the scene. They say one person tried to subdue the shooter. Incredibly, Dorgan appeared to have had some white supremacist tattoos (including an “SS”), meaning this would have been a way bigger story in the press if he weren’t insisting he’s a woman. “And Pawtucket police say the shooter was attending the hockey game to watch a family member. A woman who identified herself as the daughter of the suspect to other local media said, ‘he shot my family and was very sick with mental health issues.’ Local, state, and federal authorities including the FBI now on the ground and investigating exactly what happened,” she later concluded. The second hour saw Ikeda hit a few highlights in a live shot (click “expand”): High school hockey players were on the ice when gunshots began to ring out, sending players and spectators scrambling for safety. Police say that a gunman opened fire around 2:30 yesterday afternoon killing two people and critically injuring three others. They have since recovered multiple firearms at the scene behind me as the investigation continues. And they believe that a Good Samaritan actually stepped in and likely prevented further bloodshed. Overnight, they identified the suspected gunman as Robert Doragan, born in 1969, they say, who also goes by Roberta, seen on social media discussing getting gender reassignment surgery. Doragan, they believe, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They say this was the result of an isolated — and this was a family dispute. Local, state, and federal officials, including the FBI, now on the ground investigating exactly what happened. Here in Pawtucket, we’re less than five miles away from Brown University, where two months ago, a mass shooting killed two students and injured nine others. The governor posting that the state is grieving again To see the relevant transcripts from February 17, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

David Bozell, President of the Media Research Center (MRC), recently appeared on The Joe Concha Tunnel to Towers Foundation Show to expose what he describes as systemic bias in the Four Big News Apps - Google News, Apple News, Yahoo News, and MSN. Bozell spotlighted a new MRC study using the MRC Digital News Tracker, which monitors how these platforms curate content for millions of users. Bozell highlighted Apple's curation practices, noting that in January, Apple News featured 620 top stories—440 from left-leaning outlets, with the rest from center sources, and none from right-leaning ones. Just last week Apple ended a 99-day shutout of conservative sources by linking to a Fox News Digital story about the death of actor James Van Der Beek. Bozell argued that while Apple has editorial rights, claiming neutrality becomes untenable when 80% or more of selected news skews left. "If they're presenting themselves as a neutral arbiter of the narrative of the day, they have a tough time sticking by that claim," Bozell said. On average, you have to scroll through 26 stories on Yahoo News to get to 1 Fox News article. @DavidBozell reveals exclusive insights from the MRC Digital News Tracker with @JoeConchaTV pic.twitter.com/jPpmiB2mpF — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 17, 2026 MRC’s research gained traction when FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook questioning potential violations of user agreements or consumer expectations under the FTC Act. Bozell welcomed the scrutiny, emphasizing it's not about free speech but deceptive practices if platforms misrepresent neutrality. Apple News reaches more people than the broadcast evening news shows ever did at their peak. @AFergusonFTC is investigating Apple News following MRC's explosive research on its bias. @DavidBozell @JoeConchaTV pic.twitter.com/wLMW801jWq — Media Research Center (@theMRC) February 17, 2026 Bozell stressed the stakes: These Big Four apps reach more people than peak broadcast news, influencing perceptions for casual users reliant on preloaded apps. The MRC's work aims to shine light on this "rigged" curation, urging accountability as policymakers investigate.  

Two weeks after NewsBusters broke the story that ABC News moderator Whoopi Goldberg, was not only referenced in the Epstein files but also seemingly, requested to borrow Jeffery Epstein’s private jet to get to a charity event for The White Feather Foundation. Never addressing why HIS jet was requested, the rest of the cast of The View came to Goldberg’s defense, claiming she didn’t fly anywhere, and trying to put the focus on President Trump instead. Furthermore, they failed to address major points brought up in NewsBusters’ reporting: the request came five years after Epstein was convicted and the charity’s websites said Goldberg did indeed fly to the event and was the master of ceremonies. As they were diving into yet another segment trying to link Trump to Epstein’s crimes, Goldberg made her admission of being in the files; claiming she was doing it “in the name of transparency.” If it was truly being done in the name of transparency, they could have addressed it after NewsBusters brought it to their attention two weeks ago. Instead, they refused our multiple requests for comment and sat on it.   After two weeks of silence, The View finally addresses Whoopi Goldberg being in the Epstein files and seemingly requesting to borrow his jet. JOY BEHAR: Anybody can be on this list. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Anybody. Well, this is my point. Because, I'm telling you when I tell you… pic.twitter.com/7vBqpKFTHD — Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 17, 2026   Goldberg proceeded to read the contents of the request. Co-host Sunny Hostin immediately brushed off the request by pointing out that Jeffery Epstein rejected it: GOLDBERG: My is in the files. Yes. And what does it say? It says, ‘Whoopi needs a plane to get to Monaco. John Lennon's charity’ -- it should say ‘Julian Lennon's charity is paying for it. They don't want to charter so they looking for private owners. Here's the info.’ And they give all the information, and they're saying, ‘do you want to offer your GII?’ Okay. HOSTIN: It looks like they said ‘no thanks.’ Perhaps ABC News didn’t want to zoom in on the e-mail because then people would clearly see the request came on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, five years after Epstein was convicted as a pedophile.     “In other words, anybody can be on this list,” co-host Joy Behar dismissed the facts, before trying to whatabout her way back to Trump: “But Trump is on the list 38,000 times. Come on!” Goldberg proceeded to kvetch about media outlets like NewsBusters drawing attention to the e-mail: GOLDBERG: Well, this is my point. Because, I'm telling you when I tell you people are trying to turn me into -- I wasn't his girlfriend. I wasn't his friend. SARA HAINES: You were too old for him. GOLDBERG: I was not only too old but it was at a time, you know, where this is just not - you used to have to have facts before you said stuff. BEHAR: But Trump is on the list 38,000 times. Come on! GOLDBERG: Well, I can't speak to him but I'm speaking about me because I'm getting dragged. People actually believe that I was with him. It's like, honey, come on. At no point did Goldberg address why Epstein was sent the e-mail requesting his jet for her use. She made no attempt to give an explanation. Instead, they tried to argue that the idea of Goldberg flying on a plane at all was a ridiculous notion to begin with. According to them, Goldberg didn’t fly because she preferred to take a bus: GOLDBERG: No, I didn't get on the plane because, you know what I would have to do to get on the plane - HAINES: Fly. GOLDBERG: - they're trying – Yeah. HAINES: And she doesn’t fly. She’s a bus babe. GOLDBERG: No. So, they're trying to get me to get on a plane to get to this thing for Julian Lennon. But, as NewsBusters noted in our original report, The White Feather Foundation boasted on their website about Goldberg being at the event in question. “Whoopi Goldberg kindly flew in from the United States to host the event and performed her role as master of ceremonies to perfection,” they touted. They included pictures.     There was also the inconvenient truth that there were no buses that ran between America and Monaco on account of … the Atlantic Ocean. Additionally, taking a ship across the ocean was out of the question because the event was on May 10 and the request came in on May 8. Previously on the show, Goldberg had made it clear on the show that Italy was her favorite place to visit when they're not producing the show. She had also flown to Italy to meet Pope Frances along side other comedians, and she flew to Italy to guest star on an Italian soap opera. Without an ounce of reflection about what it meant for their accusations about Trump, co-host Sara Haines (who made a joke about Goldberg being “too old” for Epstein) pointed out (what NewsBusters noted) that most of the names included in Epstein’s e-mails were from “news articles, third party emails, [and] contacts.” She also seemed to right off the jet request as just social circles brushing up against each other: HAINES: Yeah, but the thing is they dropped like 300 names and it's like flood the zone because when you look in there, there's people like Marilyn Monroe who was dead. GOLDBERG: Elvis. HAINES: A lot of people. Because a lot of the reasons your name can be mentioned are news articles, third party emails, contacts, again, wealthy, famous people often cross in professional and social circles, so that's not the surprising part. Haines’ comment actually skimmed past other NewsBusters reporting that showed Epstein was in possession of a resume of at least one person who used to work for Goldberg. ABC News and The View did not respond to NewsBusters’ renewed request for comment. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: ABC’s The View February 17, 2026 11:07:41 a.m. Eastern (…) WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now, in the name of transparency, can you put up - My is in the files. Yes. And what does it say? It says, ‘Whoopi needs a plane to get to Monaco. John Lennon's charity’ -- it should say ‘Julian Lennon's charity is paying for it. They don't want to charter so they looking for private owners. Here's the info.’ And they give all the information, and they're saying, ‘do you want to offer your GII?’ Okay. SUNNY HOSTIN: It looks like they said ‘no thanks.’ JOY BEHAR: In other words, anybody can be on this list. GOLDBERG: Anybody. Well, this is my point. Because, I'm telling you when I tell you people are trying to turn me into -- I wasn't his girlfriend. I wasn't his friend. SARA HAINES: You were too old for him. GOLDBERG: I was not only too old but it was at a time, you know, where this is just not - you used to have to have facts before you said stuff. BEHAR: But Trump is on the list 38,000 times. Come on! GOLDBERG: Well, I can't speak to him but I'm speaking about me because I'm getting dragged. People actually believe that I was with him. It's like, honey, come on. Every man that I've ever been with, you've known about him because either The Enquirer wroted [sic] about it. Yeah, people wroted [sic] about this stuff. So, no. I never had -- and, no, I didn't get on the plane because, you know what I would have to do to get on the plane - HAINES: Fly. GOLDBERG: - they're trying – Yeah. HAINES: And she doesn’t fly. She’s a bus babe. GOLDBERG: No. So, they're trying to get me to get on a plane to get to this thing for Julian Lennon. HAINES: Yeah, but the thing is they dropped like 300 names and it's like flood the zone because when you look in there, there's people like Marilyn Monroe who was dead. GOLDBERG: Elvis. HAINES: A lot of people. Because a lot of the reasons your name can be mentioned are news articles, third party emails, contacts, again, wealthy, famous people often cross in professional and social circles, so that's not the surprising part. (…)