The rise of new media, bolstered by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s inclusion of bloggers and influencers in the presidential press “pool,” has prompted the nation’s top conservative media watchdog to crown a handful of them “Bulldogs” of the industry.
Both X owner Elon Musk and top influencer Megyn Kelly lead the Media Research Center’s “Bulldog Awards,” a sign of the expanding media universe taking over a landscape once dominated by newspapers, magazines, radio, and TV.
“As trust in left-wing media continues to collapse, independent news sources featuring fearless truth-tellers are on the rise,” said Brent Baker, MRC vice president for research and publications.
The Bulldog Awards will be announced later on Tuesday and are timed to the release of the Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced on Monday. The center said, “Recipients of the MRC Bulldog Awards are recognized for their commitment to truth in journalism, often highlighting narratives that escape national attention. These bold voices shine a light on facts that legacy journalists refuse to touch — stories the Pulitzer committee wouldn’t dare acknowledge.”
This year’s annual Bulldog Awards are a collection of conservative media members who have led the effort to push back aggressively on liberal press bias. One key example is CNN’s Scott Jennings, who has become a household name for his ability to fact-check instantly and silence Trump-haters featured on the once straight-shooting cable network.
MRC was founded in 1987 by L. Brent Bozell III to police leftist bias in the media. In 2022, it started to award conservative “Bulldogs” for their efforts. Among the initial winners were Radio Hall of Fame member Mark Levin, New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, and former radio host Dan Bongino, now deputy director of the FBI.
To help, here’s a link to the first three years of MRC Bulldog Award Winners: https://t.co/kfRRw3sWWK
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 5, 2025
This year’s lifetime achievement award will be given to Thomas Sowell, who for decades “led the charge against the worst ideas of liberal orthodoxy and the media establishment,” MRC said in its award announcement provided in advance to Secrets.
Kelly won for “outstanding podcast,” a nod to her Megyn Kelly Show on YouTube and a separate show on SiriusXM.
Musk, who has been in charge of President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency and who remained an active user of his X site, won the Bulldog Award for outstanding social media personality. “Musk’s leadership, innumerable posts and direct interactions with X users have shifted the global political dynamic,” MRC said.
Wall Street Journal journalist Kimberley Strassel won the Bulldog Award for outstanding columnist. “Strassel’s columns combine reporting with incisive analysis to give her readers the big picture takeaways on major political players and trends,” MRC said of her Potomac Watch feature for the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.
The MRC Bulldog Award for outstanding investigative journalist went to Gabe Kaminsky of the Free Press and formerly the Washington Examiner.
Spencer Lindquist of the Daily Wire won for outstanding blogger.
Radio’s Erick Erickson won the Bulldog Award for outstanding radio talk show host.
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And Jennings won the Bulldog Award for “outstanding achievement behind enemy lines,” particularly on CNN’s NewsNight With Abby Phillip, “where he’s always outnumbered by fellow panelists and the hostile host,” MRC said.
The center’s Baker said, “This year’s MRC Bulldog winners are replacing discredited leftists who claim to report the news, yet failed the American people when it came to stories like the Russiagate scandal and Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Congratulations to this year’s winners!”
