‘Walter Cronkite’ Journalism Awards Given to…John Stewart and Rachel Maddow

Granted…Walter Cronkite was seriously overrated as a journalist, but in the more naive days when he was the most trusted man in America, he projected a sense of calm and seemed to most people to play it down the middle. He didn’t, of course, but we know that mostly in hindsight. 

Cronkite’s brand was “objective,” stemming from the brief period when most Americans believed journalists were the umpires calling balls and strikes. 

His name is attached to an award for journalism in a nod to Cronkite’s image as a play-it-straight journalist who spoke to most Americans in a language we all understood without browbeating us. 

Jon Stewart And Rachel Maddow Among Honorees Of USC Annenberg’s Walter Cronkite Political Journalism Awards*
*lolhttps://t.co/MY5wX5NsMw via @Deadline

— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) December 10, 2025

These days, “journalists” still claim that they play it down the middle and just call balls and strikes. 

But, as the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC proves, journalists now believe that being an umpire means being a booster for your team. 

Jon Stewart and Rachel Maddow will be among the honorees on Friday as USC Annenberg presents its Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism.

The ceremony will take place on Friday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

In addition to Maddow, honorees will include Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes, Peter Alexander of NBC News, Julio Vaqueiro of Noticias Telemundo, PBS NewsHour, and John Dickerson, who recently announced his departure from the network, after most recently serving as anchor of CBS Evening News. Also being recognized for local news coverage is KFOR-TV in Oklahoma City and KSL-TV in Salt Lake City.

Excellence in political journalism apparently means only one thing: going as far out of one’s way to scream “Orange Man Bad!” 

Stewart, one might hope, would admit that he is a comic, not a journalist. Like many comics, he uses his platform to make political points, but I have a secret hope that when he accepts his award, he will make fun of the Annenberg School for giving it to him. It would be a delicious irony to see him go all “Ricky Gervais” on the audience, pointing out their hypocrisy and pretension. 

Martin Kaplan, the founding director of the Norman Lear Center and USC Annenberg professor, said in a statement, “The message sent by honoring these winners is that the press isn’t ‘the enemy of the people’ – it’s the firewall between the public and disinformation, abuse of power and corruption.”

The awards were established in 2001 and are presented biennially.

The “Norman Lear Center.” Of course. 

“The message sent by honoring these winners is that the press isn’t ‘the enemy of the people’ – it’s the firewall between the public and disinformation, abuse of power and corruption.” In other words, shaping the narrative against Bad Orange Man.

Prestige journalism these days has reached the purely performative stage. Midwits talking to other midwits about how much better they are than everybody else. 

Does anybody actually take seriously the idea that Rachel Maddow is a “journalist?” Apparently, “journalists” do, and so much so that they are honoring her as a “firewall between the public and disinformation, abuse of power and corruption.” 

Yeah, right. She is the perfect modern journalist. In the service of the cause, the truth is optional.