During a recent interview with reporters from The Sacramento Bee, it was clear that embattled California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom was beginning to crack under the pressure of an upcoming recall election that looks increasingly likely he may lose. Despite this latest sign that the unexpectedly close contest could result in a Republican taking control in the blue state, the broadcast networks showed zero interest in covering the bad news for Democrats.
Unlike NBC, ABC, or CBS (or CNN and MSNBC for that matter), on Wednesday night, Fox News Primetime host Lawrence Jones highlighted Newsom getting into a contentious exchange with journalists from state capital’s newspaper: “So apparently the pressure is getting to Gavin Newsom’s head. After seeing his buddy Cuomo get taken down, he seems to be realizing that Democrats aren’t untouchable and the recall election that he’s facing might actually be the end of his rule. Watch.”
“It’d be damn nice if our homegrown team started focusing on what’s right,” the Governor whined, seeming to refer to the local press. He then launched into a rant:
Everybody outside of the state is bitching about this state because of our success. Forgive me, I know I’m a little pointed today, but I’ve been taking a lot from you folks for a lot of months. So it’s nice to be able to express myself too. I’m a future ex-governor, it could happen in a few weeks, it could happen in a few years. But I love this damn state.
Even Newsom acknowledged that he may be an “ex-governor” sooner rather than later.
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While the networks avoided any reporting on the California recall at all on Thursday, including Newsom’s tantrum, CNN at least offer a single two-minute report on the topic at the very end of The Situation Room that evening. “They are two Democratic governors of two of the country’s largest states. One, Andrew Cuomo, has now resigned in disgrace, but the other, California’s Gavin Newsom, could potentially find himself fired by voters in a matter of weeks,” observed anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Turning to senior national correspondent Kyung Lah in Los Angeles, Blitzer anxiously wondered: “Newsom is facing a recall election that’s looking, apparently, increasingly bad for him, at least right now. How much trouble is he in?” The reporter replied: “Wolf, you listen to the Governor’s allies, to his political team, they are sounding the alarm and what they are most worried about, Wolf, is Democratic apathy.”
After Lah cited one state Democratic Party official complaining about it becoming “the big, fat, and lazy party,” she announced that “what the Governor’s allies are saying is that they need Democrats to wake up.” Channeling the desperation of those partisan activists, Lah added: “And they’re just telling Democrats, ‘Hey, this recall is happening. Don’t throw away your ballot. Make sure to fill it in and vote ‘no’ on the recall so the Governor does stay in office.’”
She solemnly concluded:
This apathy, though, does equal opportunity for Republican challengers….Democrats, Wolf, do out number Republicans in the state by voter registration 2-1. But still, the energy does belong with the Republicans right now when it comes to mobilizing and looking to September 14th when the recall election takes place.
The network and cable outlets have only sporadically covered the upcoming California recall election over the past several months. If the media don’t start consistently keeping their viewers informed, it may come as quite a shock when people wake up on the morning of September 15th and potentially discover the state has a new governor.
LifeNews.com Note: Kyle Drennen is an MRC News Analyst and a graduate of Providence College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science. This was originally posted on the Media Research Center blog NewsBusters.
