The man who some journalists once considered a Democratic presidential contender just got slapped with more prison time as creepy porn lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced Thursday to four years in jail for stealing from adult film star Stormy Daniels. Yet ABC, CBS and CNN -- outlets that repeatedly hyped the concept of President Avenatti -- buried the news.
ABC’s morning and evening newscasts on Thursday and Friday totally censored it. On CBS, you could see the latest — if you happened to be up and watching the CBS Morning News at 4:11 a.m. Eastern on Friday. Otherwise, there was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it seven second mention in the CBS Mornings “eye opener” tease on Friday.
NBC did slightly better, allowing a scant 22 seconds on Friday’s Today. Senior national correspondent Tom Llamas explained:
Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for stealing from his client Stormy Daniels. Avenatti was convicted of wire fraud and identity theft for wrongly pocketing about $300,000 meant for the adult film star. The money was part of the advance Daniels was paid for her explosive 2018 memoir Full Disclosure.
In 2019, when the networks imagined that the noble Avenatti would run against Donald Trump, ABC, CBS and NBC featured him for 24 appearances. (12 on ABC, 7 on CBS and 5 on NBC.)
But that’s nothing compared to CNN. The network promoted the porn lawyer, gifting him 122 appearances. This is something Fox anchor Bret Baier subtly mocked on Thursday's Special Report. As a picture of Avenatti and CNN’s Brian Stelter appeared on-screen, he reminded, “The lawyer was something of a media sensation of his criticism of then-President Trump — and look at that picture — and his flirtation with his own presidential run.”
On Thursday, CNN.com offered a single story on the Avenatti sentencing. The network itself ignored the story on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
Yet, somehow, when Avenatti went to prison in 2021 for attempting to extort Nike out of $20 million, CBS and NBC ignored it. Back in February, they skipped the verdict in the Stormy Daniels case as well.
Here's the montage video that NewsBusters video editor Bill D'Agostino did in 2019. Warning: It includes media personalities comparing him to “the Holy Spirit.” So you can see why journalists don’t want to talk about Avenatti’s fall from grace.
