Media minimizes Kavanaugh threat, doesn't apply 'words matter' standard evenly: Houck
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck on the media's memory-holing of the alarming threat on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's life.
CNN's left-wing media guru Brian Stelter turned a blind eye to the media's jarring lack of coverage on the shocking assassination attempt of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Last week, a man named Nicholas John Roske was arrested outside the justice's home carrying a gun and a knife. He admitted to police that he had traveled from California to Washington, D.C., to kill Kavanaugh because of his apparent intention to overturn Roe v. Wade following the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion. Roske was charged with attempted murder.
While the assassination attempt did receive attention as the news first broke, the liberal networks quickly moved on, giving it zero coverage on any of their Sunday shows.
More stunning was The New York Times burying the threat against Kavanaugh on their front page.
A suspect attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on June 8, 2022 (Reuters)
On Sunday's installment of "Reliable Sources," Stelter made no mention of the disproportionate lack of media coverage on the assassination attempt of a sitting Supreme Court justice.
Stelter is often referred to as the "media's janitor" for his history of cleaning up media controversies, whether it's from his allies at other outlets or at CNN itself.
In April, he landed an interview with Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who had faced intense backlash for her report doxxing the identity of the popular Twitter personality Libs of TikTok but gave very little pushback and even offered sympathy to the polarizing journalist.
He was widely panned as CNN's de facto spokesperson while being knee-deep in the network's scandals involving ousted anchor Chris Cuomo as well as his ousted boss Jeff Zucker.
HERE ARE 20 MAJOR MEDIA STORIES CNN'S BRIAN STELTER IGNORED ON HIS SO-CALLED MEDIA SHOW IN 2021
CNN's Brian Stelter has a lengthy history of downplaying or avoiding controversies that reflect poorly on the media. (CNN)
Stelter also has an extensive track record of ignoring media stories that shed an unflattering light on the journalism industry, most infamously ABC News' coverup of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Among the major controversies he avoided on "Reliable Sources" last year include MSNBC being banned from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial after a reporter was caught following members of the jury, The Washington Post's stunning corrections on articles involving the Steele dossier, USA Today allowing Stacey Abrams to stealth edit a column she had written to water down her support of boycotts, Meghan McCain's dramatic exit from "The View" and the various woes that plagued CNN.
Critics have been panning the media for their lack of coverage of the scare Kavanaugh and his family recently faced.
"Real Time" host Bill Maher railed against the New York Times for burying the story instead of printing it on the front page.
"Real Time" host Bill Maher (HBO)
"The New York Times buried this," Maher said. "If this had been a liberal Supreme Court justice that someone came to kill, it would have been on the front page."
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"And that's what's so disappointing about a paper like The New York Times because they just wear their bias on their sleeves, and if it's not part of something that feeds our narrative, f--- it, we bury it," Maher added.
The liberal Sunday morning news shows, which are known for recapping the week's news, similarly gave Kavanaugh the snub as ABC's "This Week," CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press" and CNN's "State of the Union" completely avoided the subject.
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