***To read the full blog, please check out the complete post on NewsBusters***
Tuesday was day two of Judge Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing for Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacant seat on the Supreme Court. The roughly 10-hour hearing was largely uneventful as Senate Democrats struggled to stick him with something, anything. “Gorsuch has served on the federal bench for more than a decade, as the Senators grilled him on key issues, abortion, terrorism, and gun rights, Gorsuch didn't tip his hand,” reported Jan Crawford on CBS Evening News. So frustrated were the Big Three networks that they buried the hearing deep in their nightly reports.
Not only did NBC bury the story after the first commercial break, but they also tried to paint President Donald Trump’s nominee in a highly negative light, literally. “Gorsuch says he met Mr. Trump when interviewed for the job,” reported justice correspondent Pete Williams on NBC Nightly News. While he was saying that, a dreary black and white clip of Gorsuch shaking Trump’s hand played in slow motion. It looking as though it was a scene out of a TV murder documentary.
Most of Williams’ report was centered on Gorsuch’s testimony about any possible ruling he would have in a case dealing with abortion. “Judge Neil Gorsuch says he never promised President Trump, or anyone else involved in selecting him, that he would vote a certain way on the hot-button issue of abortion,” Williams warned, “Even though Donald Trump made overturning the ruling a point in his campaign.”
The grainy black and white video edit made a second appearance as Williams discussed Gorsuch’s possible ruling on Trump’s travel ban. “And Gorsuch declined to say what he would do if he’s confirmed and President Trump’s executive order on Immigration reaches the Supreme Court,” he said as a colored picture of Gorsuch morphed into depressing grays and placed next to a vivid image of anti-Trump protesters.