While the networks all featured stories on the attempted shooting of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it wasn't anyone's Top Story. At least it was a story. NewsBusters Managing Editor Curtis Houck rifled through the national newspapers on Thursday morning and found this: USA Today -- which bills itself on its front page every day as "The Nation's News" -- had no story on the Kavanaugh threat!
How does that happen? The Washington Post tweeted out its first story at 10:22 am on Wednesday. We know "McPaper" has an early deadline, but this is ridiculous. Instead, they had a top front page story on January 6 and then the entire page 3A on 1/6. The top of their Opinion section on 7A was former Trump education secretary Betsy DeVos saying the riot was "not defensible in any way." Neither is avoiding the Kavanaugh story.
Just looked at the morning newspapers and the print edition of USA Today has ZERO stories about the attempted assassination of Brett Kavanaugh.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 9, 2022
Front page, A-2, A-3, and on and on. But three on January 6, two on guns, one touting the use of mushroom, and one on gay teens. pic.twitter.com/Nbjhhtv1Dn
The New York Times couldn't put this on the front page, except for a blurb at bottom.
Arrest Near Kavanaugh's Home
A federal affidavit says an armed man, accused of traveling to Maryland with plans to kill a justice, has been charged with attempted murder. PAGE A20
Instead, the front page has a pile of seven color photographs of January 6 and the headline "INSIDE AN ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY." Inside there is a long report covering four entire pages on January 6.
All of Page A4 is on a South Korean ferry accident that killed 250 high school students....in 2014. There's a large article on page A6 on "rising intimidation of Indigenous people" in the Amazon rainforest.
By contrast, the Kavanaugh article was under the fold on page A20, with more space granted above it to "Crime, Football, and NRA in New York Governor Debate." Their Kavanaugh story didn't get to the potential assassin's motive (abortion, gun control) until the fifth paragraph.
Here's the front page of The New York Times. Not one story on the attempted assassination of Brett Kavanaugh. Instead, you have a footnote to see A-20 and a rather brief article.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 9, 2022
Articles that were longer? A journo goes deep into the Amazon and a deadly Korean ferry accident. pic.twitter.com/Fbsh6I8TJE
Most of the first editorial page was also on 1/6. The lead editorial was headlined "Don't Expect Must-Watch TV" on the prime-time hearings. Underneath, the David Brooks column was headlined "The Jan. 6 Committee Has Already Blown It."
The Wall Street Journal put a photo of Kavanaugh under the fold on Page One with the headline "Kavanaugh Threatened." The article on page 3 by Jan Wolfe briefly mentioned what the assailant "allegedly told" authorities about his motive...in the seventh paragraph of an 11-paragraph piece.
Among the liberal papers, The Washington Post led the pack by putting the Kavanaugh story at the top left-hand column of the front page, which continued on the bottom of page A4.
The Washington Times made this its top story, complete with motive: "Man intended to kill Kavanaugh at home: Arrives loaded with weapons, confesses anger over abortion." Next to that story was a story on "Pro-life pregnancy sites attacked as Americans await court ruling."
PS: Ted Cruz spokesman Steve Guest tweeted that the Chicago Tribune had no front-page mention of Kavanaugh, and the Los Angeles Times had a tiny blurb on page one like the New York Times.
