If you weren’t convinced already that the press is largely opposed to Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, the behavior this week from some supposedly impartial members of the news media should remove all doubt.
Certain reporters have grossly mischaracterized the Senate Judiciary Committee’s attempts to organize a hearing for both Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. Some have mischaracterized the judge’s responses to allegations he sexually assaulted Ford when they were both in high school. One reporter even authored a report insinuating Kavanaugh’s personal formation may have been influenced by the “homophobic” and “misogynistic” culture of the high school he attended.
Interestingly enough, these moments of sloppy characterizations and personal commentary from the information gatekeepers of the press have come at the expense of Kavanaugh and his allies in Congress. Imagine that.
Politico chief Washington correspondent Edward-Isaac Dovere, for example, tweeted Thursday evening:
Kavanaugh responses (so far):
-there was no incident
-it was a long time ago/who’s to say what counts as assault?
-he says he didn’t do it
-should high school be held against him?
-it can’t be proven either way
-there’s no time to look into it
-maybe someone else did it— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) September 21, 2018
Only the third point in this list – Kavanaugh’s denial of having done it – is accurate. The rest is nonsense. Kavanaugh has maintained total innocence throughout this entire ordeal. He has said nothing more than that he did no such thing. The Politico reporter must have meant to compile a list of the things Kavanaugh’s defenders have said. But Dovere didn’t do that, and that’s on him (if you can believe it, the reporter published a follow-up tweet blaming the Internet for his apparently tenuous grasp of the English language).
Earlier that same day, Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Phillip Rucker shared a trash news story, titled “A flag of underwear: Photo from Kavanaugh’s time shows [Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity] hijinks,” on social media.
Rucker tweeted, “During Brett Kavanaugh’s time as an undergrad at Yale, his fraternity, DKE, marched across campus waving a flag woven from women’s underwear,” and then added in an astonishing follow-up, “In case it isn’t clear in my tweet, Kavanaugh is not in the flag-waving photo, as explained in this story, which is about the culture of his frat.”
Rucker’s attempt to connect Kavanaugh to the antics of other people came shortly after his Post colleague Greg Jaffe authored an even more ridiculous article titled, “In the ’80s, boys’ prep schools like Kavanaugh’s could be bastions of misogyny.” Jaffe writes that he reached out to old classmates to see if they “recalled the same misogynistic culture that I did.” Though the world has changed much since the 1980s, he writes, these “changes raise the question of whether the culture of casual misogyny and heavy drinking that existed in the 1980s matters today.”
On Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, urged Ford to come forward immediately to give her testimony, adding there’s “no reason for any further delay.”
The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush responded with a since-deleted tweet that read: “This feels like the moment in the dealership when you waver on buying the car, start reading the finance agreement closely, and the dealer says, ‘Enough! Let’s get u in that car today!’”
Straight news reporter indeed. And from a journo who has had his own brushes with inappropriate sexual behavior, not from decades ago but from very recently.
Then there’s CNN’s Jim Scuitto, who tweeted Tuesday at around 9:26 pm EST, “The offer to #ChristinaBlaseyFord is blunt: testify in public six days from now while under death threats or your allegation will be ignored in the confirmation of a SCOTUS nominee. That is quite a choice.”
The offer to #ChristinaBlaseyFord is blunt: testify in public six days from now while under death threats or your allegation will be ignored in the confirmation of a SCOTUS nominee. That is quite a choice.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) September 19, 2018
This is as dishonest a characterization of what the Senate Judiciary Committee offered Ford as he could have thought up. At the time of Scuitto’s tweets, it had already been reported that Grassley told Blasey she “could testify in private if she preferred.”
Scuitto’s CNN colleague Chris Cillizza also claimed incorrectly that day that President Trump had ordered the FBI to ignore Ford’s allegations.
No big deal: Just the president telling the FBI to ignore an allegation of sexual assault https://t.co/lvO8w9ccOm
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 18, 2018
This isn’t even close to being true. The president told reporters Tuesday, “I don’t really think the FBI should be involved because they don’t want to be involved. If they wanted to be I would certainly do that, but as you know they say this isn’t really their thing.”
Lastly, there’s the New York Times’ Jonathan Weisman, who squealed with delight this week after Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said of Kavanaugh’s forthcoming testimony, “I just want to say to the men of this country to shut up and step out do the right thing for a change.”
— (((JonathanWeisman))) (@jonathanweisman) September 18, 2018
Amazingly enough, of the examples mentioned in the above, only Thrush had the good sense to rethink his decision to engage in partisan hackery. The other misleading and false tweets and posts are still live, racking up plenty of shares and points from the anti-Trump resistance.
Cillizza himself once tweeted in 2016, “Let me say for the billionth time: Reporters don’t root for a side. Period.”
Sure. Whatever you say, Chris.
