CNN, MSNBC made unprecedented decision to skip historic Amy Coney Barrett vote

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Senate vote confirms Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Justice

After a 52-48 majority vote, the Senate confirms Amy Coney Barrett as Associate Justice to the Supreme Court.

Liberal networks CNN and MSNBC made a decision on Monday that was unprecedented in recent memory when they skipped the historic vote in the Senate that confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as the 115th justice and only the fifth woman to the Supreme Court. 

CNN and MSNBC’s failure to cover the news has been condemned by critics, some of whom have questioned if they’re still considered news organizations as a result of skipping the vote. 

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“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. 

Back in 2018, Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s vote was covered by CNN and MSNBC despite the liberal networks’ disdain for him. Both networks covered Justice Neil Gorsuch’s vote in 2017, too. 

CNN covered Justice Elena Kagan’s vote in 2010, and MSNBC presumably aired the Obama-appointee’s vote although no video or transcript could be found. 

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The vote for Justice Sonia Sotomayor was also aired live on both CNN and MSNBC in 2009.  

While the coverage for each justice varied in terms of scope and analysis, Barrett is the only one of the five most recent additions to the Supreme Court to have her vote blacked out by both liberal networks. 

CNN and MSNBC did not immediately respond when asked why they aired votes for Kavanaugh, Goursuch, Kagan and Sotomayor but not Barrett.  

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“It’s been amazing to watch an entire profession burn their industry to the ground over the last four years,” Barron said of liberal cable news channels. 

The historic Barrett vote was 52-48 with Maine Sen. Susan Collins as the sole Republican to join Democrats in opposition. DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall said what a news network doesn’t cover is just as important as what it does. 

“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. 

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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.”

Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.