South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley on Monday announced she will appoint Republican U.S. Representative Tim Scott to the U.S. Senate to replace the departing Senator Jim DeMint, but though he will become the “first African American U.S. Senator from the South since Blanche Bruce of Mississippi in 1881” and the only black -- Democrat or Republican -- in the current Senate, neither ABC nor CBS mentioned the news Monday night.
Yes, the newscasts were dominated by the aftermath of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy, yet the NBC Nightly News managed to squeeze in 24 seconds to note Scott’s historic appointment.
[UPDATE, 3:10 PM EDT Dec 18: On Tuesday morning, ABC’s Good Morning America spiked the news of Scott’s appointment, yet had time for far more frivolous matters, while CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today squeezed in very short items, though Today’s didn’t air until the third hour of the program.]
The CBS Evening News devoted three minutes and thirty seconds to gun control (but that included anchor Scott Pelley noting a new poll found 66 percent said stricter gun laws would have done “little or nothing” to prevent what occurred in Connecticut and Pelley in an interview segment pushing back against Michael Bloomberg on gun control), a full story on the fiscal cliff and 30 seconds on Inouye.
So, might ABC and CBS catch up Tuesday night? [No, neither mentioned Scott on Tuesday, December 18.]
Brian Williams on the Monday, December 17 NBC Nightly News, over brief video of the announcement before cameras in Columbia with Haley, Scott and DeMint:
