Worst. News. Slogan. Ever.

Slate's Jack Shafer recently had a spot-on piece about the inanity of CNN's mantra-like self promotion tag line, "The Best Political Team on Television." Shafer argues that not only is the claim baseless and unverifiable, but it actually mocks the intelligence of CNN's audience:

...slogans like this one remind viewers -- as if they needed reminding -- that the network thinks they're idiots, susceptible to the basest form of persuasion going. Who at CNN came up with this slogan? Perhaps it's the same genius who coined "The Most Trusted Name in News."

Of course, CNN is far from the only culprit in the branding via boasting method of advertising. Depending on your perspective, FOX's seemingly humble tagline, "Fair and Balanced" either strikes you as a media corrective or a big fat joke (just ask a Ron Paul supporter).


ABC has long chimed in with the long-winded, "More People Get their News from ABC News than Any Other Source." Seems like something you could check, but I can recall hearing that phrase even when Jennings came in second place in the ratings. Do Barbara Walters specials count in the tally?

NBC clings to a wishful vision of itself as "America's News Leader." Whatever.

From "Amreica's Most Watched Network," CBS, which invited its audience to help choose Katie Couric's tagline sign-off, we have... Um... Well, whatever it is, it must not be a very good slogan seeing as it's not popping into my head. Several Google searches haven't turned up the catch-phrase, either. Anybody?

But let's not forget what is destined to become the industry's new gold standard. Yes, we here at Political Machine have our own trusty slogan, "Cranking 24/7 to Sort the Spin." That masterful turn of phrase was concocted not because we paid a high-priced Madison Avenue to work its magic. No, the truth is that PM's wordsmiths bounced around a group e-mail and hammered the thing out. Denise, Coates, Jay, Tommy, Eric, Chris, Mark, Dave, Abby, Greg, Justin, and I spent many waking minute (OK, maybe 5 at most) whittling, sculpting, trashing, re-building, and polishing that meaty little line.

So please, help us out, tell us your least favorite media tagline of all time. Don't be afraid to bestow us with top honors. In advertising, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Hey, you know, that's not a bad slogan.