CNN honored by WHCA for coverage of Kavanaugh: Like 'watching a symphony'

It is fitting that the metaphor used by the White House Correspondents Association in describing CNN's coverage of the Kavanaugh hearing is a musical one, because the only way to describe the media's self-congratulation lately is that it's "tone-deaf."

The cable news networks have committed multiple errors of judgement and fact on everything from Russian collusion to Jussie Smollet to the Florida election to Catholic students, but that has not stopped the WHCA from offering praise for that coverage.

CNN's overall coverage was marked and marred by not only mistakes and even smears, but by extensive speculative opining from anchors and reporters alike. The network published and aired preposterously flimsy accusations, associated Kavanaugh with rape an average of ten times a day over an 18-day period reviewed by the Media Research Center, and by the way brought their favorite "celebrity" attorney Michael Avenatti on air over and over to talk about it.

(What has Avenatti been up to lately, you may ask? Here you go)

For all that, their coverage on the day of the confirmation is being lauded by the White House Correspondents Association with an honorable mention for the 'Merriman Smith Award in broadcast' with the following glowing review.

CNN's coverage on the day of the hearings on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was aggressive, relied on deep sourcing and felt like one was watching a symphony. The news-making moments in which Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, was confronted by two women was just a piece of the extensive coverage that followed every angle, all day.

The actual winner of the award was Fox News Channel's Ed Henry, for his devastating interview with EPA's Scott Pruitt.

That the mention is specific to the day of the hearing does not abrogate the necessity of reviewing the network's overall coverage, and certainly should have weighed into the decision to praise the network's broadcast on that particular day. Especially considering that many of those stories, including the Avenatti story, were brought up on air throughout that very day, most of which was otherwise dedicated to live streaming video from the hearing.

At Newsbusters, they have an extensive takedown of the awards being handed out, and the bad or erroneous coverage that has been overlooked.