NPR Offered NO Story (Just Two Vague Mentions) on the Failed Kavanaugh Murderer

Bill Maher, among other pundits, pound The New York TimesThe fact that they buried the attempted murder of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh at the bottom page A-20 is a strong record than National Public Radio. They were very active on January 6, Committee. However, there was no report on the assassination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Only two short mentions this week.

On Wednesday, I was sure NPR’s badly named All Things ConsideredThe evening newscast didn’t do anything. Since there wasn’t a headline segment on the website, I tweeted it. A tipter saw it and added one sentence.

An asterisk was added to a headline titled “The Proud Boys Indictment Comes As Political Violence Develops.” NPR’s Odette Yousef, a reporter covering “extremism”, said something.

MISS ODETTE YOUSEF One of these is, obviously, the midterm elections this fall. But we are also currently looking at possible overturning Roe v. Wade This month. Just today An armed man was arrested outside Justice Kavanaugh’s residence, according to reports.

It was that simple.

Nina Totenberg (the Supreme Court reporter) was missing. She was responsible for the unverified Anita Hill allegations and was also attached at the hip with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Totenberg only sent one tweet to the media on Wednesday morning and couldn’t handle it. 

Armed man arrested near #SCOTUSJustice Kavanaugh was found at his home around 1:50 AM today. WaPo reported that he said to police that he was going after the Justice.

— Nina Totenberg (@NinaTotenberg) June 8, 2022

We still haven’t heard anything you would call “reporting” on this arrest of a violent man named Nicholas John Roske.

Wait, there’s more! It gets worse! Morning EditionNina Totenberg reported on the Supreme Court during their morning news brief. The three of them talked for about four minutes about Supreme Court business, but they did NOT mention the attempted murder the previous day!

STEVE INSKEEEP, anchor: U.S. Supreme Court anticipates issuing far-reaching decisions in the near future.

RACHEL MARTIN (anchor): The upcoming rulings may impact the availability of abortion and guns. A second case involves policies that combat climate change. All this is being done in an extremely stressful workplace by the justices and their staff. The court is currently investigating the leakage of Justice Samuel Alito’s abortion draft opinion.

INSKEEP: Nina Totenberg, NPR’s legal affairs correspondent is here. Good morning Nina.

NINA TOTENBERG

INSKEEP – What’s happening over there?

TOTENBERG:It is quite ugly. It sounds awful, what with the ongoing leak investigation and distrust between the justices as well as the clerks. Here’s one.Just after the leak was revealed, Justice Thomas seemed to state that he doesn’t trust his coworkers in a speech.

(SOUNDBITE of ARCHIVED REPORTING)

CLARENCE THOMAS. When there is a loss of trust in an institution, in particular, in me, that can have a profound impact on the institution. The other person starts to notice you. You start to look over your shoulder.

TOTENBERG

(SOUNDBITE of ARCHIVED REPORTING)

THOMAS – The 11-year old court was amazing. This was a court you looked forward too.

TOTENBERG We don’t yet know the cause of this antipathy. However, it is known that Roberts got very upset with some conservatives when he voted for Obamacare key provisions 10 years back. These switches are not common, Steve. Justices can change their mind and act in good faith. However, this switch isn’t permanent. Some of the court’s conservatives were so upset by it, that the leak was apparently from the conservative side. to embarrass Roberts.

INSKEEP: We appreciate your reminder of past leaks from the court. However, in this case it was only a matter of disagreement or anger. The actual draft opinion is now available in the case at hand. It’s been labelled a betrayal by the chief justice, and the court marshal has been ordered to investigate. How has this affected the feelings within the court?

TOTENBERG: The situation is chaotic. To begin, there is the court marshal who supervises the entire security and administrative functions at the court. She also oversees the investigation. She doesn’t have experience in the field of investigation, and neither does the Supreme Court Police. Their duty is to safeguard the justices. Every investigator I have spoken to has said that leak inquiries were the worst.

INSKEEP: How do they get so high?

TOTENBERG: Investigators initially thought it was just a handful of people with access. It was eventually discovered that access to the internet was available for many people. It wasn’t just the coworkers at the office. The computer staff, their families, friends and people who came to work, as well as people from home, were all affected. Even if they have evidence that the reporter was in contact, they claim that we are often unable to prove that this contact caused the leak. The majority of investigations lead to speculation and speculation.

INSKEEP: How will that affect the day-to-day operations of court as they near the end of term, with all the big decisions due?

TOTENBERG The court clerks are, he explained – which is very interesting – a kind of the diplomatic corps. They have a lot of fun talking to one another, particularly at this time of the year. With the blessing of their bosses they set out to discover how to soften or push the boundaries in the case. The clerks fear that they could lose their entire professional life. This is why they can’t do it. The short version is that it doesn’t work. This is a difficult time for court.

INSKEEP by Nina Totenberg, NPR. Many thanks.

TOTENBERG: You’re welcome.

Continue reading Weekend Edition Saturday,Scott Simon was the morning host and Ron Elving, NPR political analyst, gave a brief mention of another topic at the conclusion of their chat. This segment was headlined: “Week In Politics: January 6 Committee makes a strong case against Trump.”

SCOTT SIMON: There is real fear that the rhetoric of this country will lead to even more violence. This past week saw the death of a Wisconsin judge.One man is arrested close to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s residence.

RON ELVING : These fears do not have any basis. Both you and I are familiar with the 60s. In those years, extremism in politics quickly moved from rhetoric to ideas. There were also episodes of violence that took place in many forms. These tragic outcomes left a lasting impression. This is why we must find ways to stop it.

NPR Media reporter David Folkenflik, a NPR journalist, wrote a piece for NPR.org ranting about Fox News’s inability to report the hearing live (as he does often). Their right-wing base was to blame: He said, “To have presented the continuous documentation of the coordinated attack on Capitol in January 2017 and concurrent efforts to stop the November 2020 presidential election would have been for Fox News to present unwelcomed information to core Fox News viewers.”

We can also make the assumption that NPR failed to cover Kavanaugh’s story. It would be unwelcome for many NPR core listeners to talk about an unhinged, violent leftist.

Kelly McBride, NPR Public Editor Kelly’s Disappointed at These Inexplicable Mentions can be expressed here