‘Embarrassing’ that liberal media didn’t carry full Barrett Senate confirmation vote: Concha
The Hill media reporter Joe Concha analyzes the media's coverage of Judge Amy Coney Barrett on 'Fox & Friends.'
Critics are wondering if CNN and MSNBC are still considered news organizations after the liberal networks chose not to air the historic vote in the Senate that confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th justice and only the fifth woman to the Supreme Court.
“They have abandoned any pretext of being news organizations. They exist solely as propaganda machines -- spinning news when they can, flat out ignoring it when they can’t spin it,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News. “It’s been amazing to watch an entire profession burn their industry to the ground over the last four years.”
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The historic vote was 52-48 with Maine Sen. Susan Collins as the sole Republican to join Democrats in opposition – but anyone who relies on CNN or MSNBC for news would have no idea.
“This is an embarrassing failure by both CNN and MSNBC,” Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News.
Later in the evening, they barely aired the White House ceremony marking Barrett's confirmation, as MSNBC cut away almost immediately after a brief mention and CNN cut away moments later only to jump in for Barrett's speech.
DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said what a news network doesn’t cover is just as important as what it does cover.
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“This omission was a clear editorial effort to diminish the importance of the Barrett confirmation. The actual vote itself had little drama, given that the votes were clearly there to complete the confirmation. But, there was much harsh rhetoric leading up to the actual vote and much fallout is yet to come. Thus, this event easily qualified as newsworthy,” McCall told Fox News.
He feels that liberal news organizations might have paid more attention if Barrett weren’t such a strong addition to the Supreme Court.
“Much of the mainstream media… lost interest in the Barrett nomination process once it was obvious that Barrett was a poised and highly capable person who had the qualifications and the votes to be confirmed,” McCall said. “It became difficult to portray Barrett as controversial or unpolished, particularly when she had substantial public support. So, much of the media just pivoted back to coronavirus and Trump tweets as primary stories on the news agenda.”
Gainor said CNN and MSNBC should be embarrassed for skipping the historic moment.
“In the case of CNN, we shouldn't be surprised,” Gainor said before blasting the way CNN promoted a documentary about the life and legacy of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“The network almost deified Ruth Bader Ginsburg with the CNN Films production ‘RBG.’ The page on CNN's website devoted to the movie includes a headline about ‘The making of a 'Notorious' phenomenon,’ Gainor said. “So-called neutral journalists turned her into the face of the “resistance” against Trump.”
Both networks largely covered Barrett's confirmation through the prism of the coronavirus outbreak with CNN anchors shaming the Trump administration for hosting a celebration at the White House following the previous event commemorating Barrett's nomination, which has been widely referred to as a super-spreader event based on the high number of attendees who were later diagnosed with the virus.
CNN was even mocked for its onscreen graphic during its coverage of the ceremony that read, "TRUMP SUPREME CT NOMINEE ABOUT TO BE SWORN IN AT WHAT ANOTHER POTENTIAL SUPERSPREADER EVENT."
“The ‘superspreader’ comment is so insane and so irresponsible that any legitimate journalist who works for CNN should quit today,” Gainor added.
As for MSNBC, Gainor hasn’t considered it a news network for years and Monday’s decision was simply the latest evidence to back up his theory.
“MSNBC isn’t a news network. It proved that when it resurrected the career of confessed liar Brian Williams. That's why it provided its viewers with a safe space from reality,” Gainor said, referring to former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams being suspended for six months back in 2015 for fabricating stories, including a bogus tale about a helicopter he was on in Iraq being hit by enemy fire. Williams was relegated to MSNBC once his suspension ended.
“MSNBC gave [viewers] the soothing tones of Rachel Maddow rather than remind them that the U.S. Supreme Court had taken a major right turn,” Gainor said.
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CNN and MSNBC have previously raised eyebrows for stories they choose not to cover. Last week, CNN chose not to air the FBI news conference revealing efforts by Iran and Russia to interfere in the 2020 election. CNN also skipped multiple days of Barrett's confirmation hearing, prioritizing its coverage toward Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In July, both CNN and MSNBC ignored the breaking news of the mass shooting that took place in Chicago that left at least 15 people shot outside of a funeral home.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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