Much of the issue stemmed from a coordinated effort to cover an array of stories—Epstein, Colbert, Gaza, and Sydney Sweeney—all while seemingly evading the coverage of more Russian collusion documents being released. As a result, tallying the trauma became challenging. It’s time to don the hip waders and begin trudging through the complex media landscape to discern who claimed top (bottom) honors this week.

     THE CONTENDERS

(Dis)Honorable Mention: The Bulwark – A strained comparison was made in an endeavor to critique the devout, likening a recent deportation arrest to the arrest of Jesus, complete with a photo of a statue of Jesus Christ in handcuffs.

His Name Is Jesus.

He’s a Carpenter.

ICE Arrested Him.https://t.co/iLhL6ACvz4

— Sam Stein (@samstein) July 30, 2025

NBC News – The network devoted extensive coverage to a peculiar lawsuit against the Blue Angels flight team by a self-proclaimed cat enthusiast over her pet’s demise. Delving into the eccentric, blue-haired circles on social media, the network labeled the Sydney Sweeney ad as promoting eugenics. Additionally, they provided sympathetic coverage to a transgender darts player impacted by a gender rule change in competition.

Rolling Stone – The magazine offered an outlandish explanation that documents revealing the Russian collusion scam were planted by Russia… even before the collusion efforts commenced. They published an editorial criticizing Trump’s economy, penned by a former Biden administration financial expert. Despite repeated negative comments about President Trump, they acknowledged the reality that voters perceived the Democrats as being more corrupt.

The Washington Post – The outlet continues to chronicle the exodus of talent as many, including longtime fact-checker Glenn Kessler, accepted buyouts. They seized the moment to declare “American Eagle’s Sydney Sweeney ad went wrong” – despite the company accruing hundreds of millions of dollars in days. Meanwhile, the paper criticized men for admiring a model while aiding Democrats in understanding their lack of appeal to men.

Axios – After Trump secured a significant trade deal with the European Union, the narrative suggested the deal was overly favorable to the U.S. and unfair to the EU. Despite a disproven image, they published a photograph of a child in Gaza allegedly suffering from starvation. They claimed the Trump administration was rewriting rules for grant programs to favor whites, though no such rewriting was taking place—just enforcement of existing anti-discrimination standards.

The Atlantic – In mewling about the Sydney Sweeney controversy, Charlie Warzel complained that conservatives are trying to suggest that “Americans should be free to love boobs.” In a lengthy favorable interview with Jasmine Crockett, the outlet revealed that, in an attempt to get some background on her, 33 members of Congress would not speak about her. After learning of this research, Crockett shut down the interviews. After his name appeared in the Durham annex documents, Franklin Foer went on MSNBC… to discuss tariffs. 

CNN – During live coverage of the shooting in New York City, Erin Burnett speculated the attacker was “possibly white,” and then it was revealed he had been most certainly not that. After extensive coverage of the plight of Gaza residents in desperate need of aid, we get the report that airdrops of supplies were humiliating for Palestinians. Financial correspondent Richard Quest was upset that Scott Jennings accurately quoted his inaccurate tariff predictions in April. 

     THE WINNER

NEW YORK TIMES 

“The Paper Of Record” distinguished itself in a tough battle by coming up with some rather significant dysfunctional entries to win at the wire.

A front-page report on starvation in Gaza featured an emaciated infant, then a correction had to be issued after it was pointed out that the kid’s family looked rather healthy; it was then learned the tyke has a genetic disease. 

The paper was sure to give two figures under fire with the new documents released on Russian collusion – John Brennan and James Clapper – the chance to defend themselves with an editorial.

Then the paper lapsed into a tortured explainer about how the Durham annex documents do not disprove the basis of the investigation, by not offering any disqualifying proof.

In one editorial, they have a doctor proposing the recalibration of death rulings in order to generate more organs for transplant donations.

The paper got weepy about Trump reinstituting the Presidential Finess Test in schools.