{"id":587455,"date":"2021-07-09T17:20:46","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T21:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=587455"},"modified":"2021-07-09T17:20:48","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T21:20:48","slug":"counting-down-the-worst-moments-of-the-medias-love-affair-with-michael-avenatti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/counting-down-the-worst-moments-of-the-medias-love-affair-with-michael-avenatti\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting Down The Worst Moments Of The Media\u2019s Love Affair With Michael Avenatti"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcounting-down-the-worst-moments-of-the-medias-love-affair-with-michael-avenatti%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=587455&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-945767926.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Of all the things that destroyed onetime \u201cporn lawyer\u201d and now-convicted felon Michael Avenatti, the final factor may have been cable news. Avenatti, who rose to prominence as an anti-Trump lawyer, was once a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/opinion-dont-forget-that-the-media-adored-michael-handcuffs-avenatti-pushing-him-as-a-future-president\">ubiquitous<\/a> presence on cable news, before being sentenced to 30 months in prison for a $25 million extortion scheme against Nike. (He still faces trials in California and Manhattan on additional charges that he stole millions more from his other clients, including pornstar Stormy Daniels.) The judge who handed down his sentence cited Avenatti\u2019s belief that his fame put him above the law. \u201cMr. Avenatti had become drunk on the power of his platform, or what he perceived the power of his platform to be,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/breaking-michael-avenatti-sentenced-to-30-months-in-prison-after-reportedly-crying-in-court\">said<\/a> Judge Paul Gardephe of the Southern District of New York in his ruling.<\/p>\n<p>The media\u2019s love affair was a mutual intoxication: Avenatti made <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/mainstream-media-featured-avenatti-254-times-in-one-year-with-half-of-appearances-coming-from-cnn-alone\">254 appearances<\/a> on cable or network news between March 2018 and April of 2019. No fewer than 147 of those came between March 7 and May 15, 2018 \u2014 roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump?source=%2Fopinion%2Fstormy-daniels-lawyer-has-gone-on-tv-twice-a-day-on-average-for-the-past-10-weeks\">two interviews<\/a> a day. That <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/entertainment\/lawyer-michael-avenatti-254-tv-appearances-prior-to-legal-troubles\">includes<\/a> 179 interviews in three months between March and June 2018, according to the Media Research Center: 121 on CNN, 108 on MSNBC, and 24 on the Big Three networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS). Often the interviewer spent much of the air time gushing over Avenatti, as when Joy Reid gushed, \u201cHe\u2019s good.\u201d In all, the media gave Michael Avenatti the equivalent of $175 million in free media (more specifically: $174,631,598.07), <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/politics\/cnn-msnbc-have-given-stormy-daniels-lawyer-michael-avenatti-175-million-in-earned-media\/\">according<\/a> to an analysis from The Washington Free Beacon.<\/p>\n<p>Amid all that air time, reporters often made embarrassingly subservient or flattering comments to the ethically challenged porn attorney, seemingly fueling his self-destruction.<\/p>\n<p>If Avenatti was drunk on media exposure, here are the bartenders who kept serving up the hair of the dog that bit him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brian Stelter: Avenatti is a serious contender for POTUS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Of all the people who fawned over Michael Avenatti, perhaps none did so more earnestly than Brian Stelter. The host invited the porn lawyer to address his potential presidential run on the September 16, 2018, episode of CNN\u2019s \u201cReliable Sources.\u201d Stelter introduced Avenatti as one of the Democratic Party\u2019s \u201c2020 hopefuls\u201d and told him, \u201cLooking ahead to 2020, one reason I\u2019m taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=n30DD4pr0s0&#038;start=2&#038;feature=oembed\">https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=n30DD4pr0s0&amp;start=2&amp;feature=oembed<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>During a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=hKLWbx7MyVI&amp;feature=youtu.be\">CSPAN interview<\/a>, Stelter tried to downplay his role in building the abortive Avenatti-for-president boomlet as a \u201cright-wing meme\u201d that represents \u201cthe kind of 15-second moment on TV that gets snipped and clipped and shared and becomes a meme on right-wing media \u2026 and it becomes this attack point to make fun of people like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI almost forgot how to say Avenatti\u2019s name, he\u2019s been out of the news so long,\u201d he quipped.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brian Stelter.... WHAT A FUNNY GUY!\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hKLWbx7MyVI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>In reality, Stelter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=smC9n8sm_TI\">dedicated<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/transcripts.cnn.com\/TRANSCRIPTS\/1809\/16\/rs.01.html\">the full segment<\/a> to Avenatti\u2019s presidential aspirations. After elevating Avenatti to the status of a credible presidential candidate, Stelter invited him to address criticisms that he lacked experience and voiced his concern that \u201csometimes you fall into some Trumpian tactics.\u201d Stelter closed their discussion by telling Avenatti,&nbsp;\u201cI don\u2019t think you seem that creepy, but that\u2019s just me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brian Stelter Confronts Avenatti For Defending Past Threats To Journalists: &#039;That&#039;s Very Trumpy&#039;\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/smC9n8sm_TI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ana Navarro: \u2018You are like the Holy Spirit\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CNN\u2019s resident \u201cRepublican,\u201d Ana Navarro, flirted with committing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+12%3A31-32&amp;version=KJV\">the unforgivable sin<\/a> by comparing a porn lawyer to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. \u201cLately, to me, you are like the Holy Spirit. You are all places at all times. I see you all over cable news,\u201d Navarro <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DailyCaller\/status\/1228402861140332550\">told<\/a> Avenatti on ABC. She then offered Avenatti a seat as \u201ca co-host here on \u2018The View.\u2019\u201d Co-host Joy Behar <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=oAjN-CJTQSg\">closed<\/a> the show by asking him if he planned to run for president in 2020.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The online media featuring everything from campaign habits to beauty tips<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Numerous online news outlets, which consider themselves dreadfully serious and credible, hyped Avenatti\u2019s potential presidential campaign and covered his beauty regimen. Politico posted an article from Bill Scher, a contributing editor to Politico Magazine, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2018\/09\/14\/michael-avenatti-2020-democratic-primary-219910\/\">titled<\/a> \u201cMichael Avenatti Is Winning the 2020 Democratic Primary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Time Magazine predicted incorrectly, \u201cMichael Avenatti\u2019s Past Won\u2019t Stop Him From Running in 2020.\u201d After outlining his long history of personal, professional, and financial scandals, Time\u2019s Molly Ball and Alana Abramson concluded, \u201cHe fights, and he wins: to many of the beleaguered party faithful, that may be enough.\u201d Even Vanity Fair posted an article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/2018\/05\/michael-avenatti-style\">titled<\/a> \u201cMichael Avenatti on His Style and Skincare Routine: \u2018I Own It.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Everyone who covered Julia Swetnick<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Avenatti closed out a raucous 2018 advancing the baseless claims of Julia Swetnick that, before becoming a distinguished jurist and church volunteer, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was a serial gang rapist. Since the media lowered the bar by entertaining the unfounded allegations of Christine Blasey Ford, they had no grounds to fend off equally preposterous claims from Avenatti\u2019s client.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/news\/2018\/09\/avenatti-gang-rape-bombshell-the-end-of-brett-kavanaugh\">Is Avenatti\u2019s \u2018Gang Rape\u2019 Bombshell the End of Brett Kavanaugh?<\/a>\u201d asked a hopeful Tina Nguyen at<em>&nbsp;<\/em><em>Vanity Fair.<\/em>&nbsp;As The Daily Wire\u2019s Ashe Schow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/nbc-sat-information-undermined-brett-kavanaugh-ashe-schow\">reported<\/a>: \u201cNBC was the worst offender. The network interviewed Swetnick even though it said up front it couldn\u2019t verify her claims. This is Journalism Malpractice 101; you don\u2019t put out possibly defamatory information you can\u2019t verify. Of course, the media was totally okay with doing this if it meant keeping Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court. They didn\u2019t care about the consequences to his family or his reputation.\u201d Ultimately, the claim seemed as preposterous as it was, and Democrats turned on Avenatti, as Rebecca Downs has <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/tipsheet\/rebeccadowns\/2021\/07\/09\/flashback-democrats-blame-avenattis-gang-rape-allegations-for-screwing-up-their-witch-hunt-against-kavanaugh-n2592259\">noted<\/a> at Townhall.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p>One person who certainly did <em>not <\/em>flood his show with Avenatti affection is Tucker Carlson, who nicknamed Avenatti the \u201cCreepy Porn Lawyer.\u201d In their only on-air meeting on September 13, 2018, Carlson told Avenatti he was \u201cexploiting\u201d Stormy Daniels, \u201cand you know that. \u2026 You pose as a feminist hero, because you\u2019re shameless and the other channels let you get away with it. But you are an exploiter of a woman, and you should be ashamed of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhatever you think of anything else Tucker Carlson has ever said or done, he had Michael Avenatti dead to rights from day one,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jimantle\/status\/1413340230917271553\">tweeted<\/a> Jim Antle of the Washington Examiner.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"9.2682926829268\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Whatever you think of anything else Tucker Carlson has ever said or done, he had Michael Avenatti dead to rights from day one.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jim Antle (@jimantle) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jimantle\/status\/1413340230917271553?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The media <em>should <\/em>learn to think twice about Avenatti, but it has not and likely will not. \u201cThere should be an enormous lesson here: the media is incredibly vulnerable to a certain variety of camera-savvy huckster who tells them what they want to hear. The media was the mark, and boy did they get taken by Michael Avenatti,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrewHolden360\/status\/1413275566225166342\">wrote<\/a> Drew Holden.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"11.480144404332\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">There should be an enormous lesson here: the media is incredibly vulnerable to a certain variety of camera-savvy huckster who tells them what they want to hear. <\/p>\n<p>The media was the mark, and boy did they get taken by Michael Avenatti.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrewHolden360\/status\/1413275566225166342?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 8, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>But who was using whom? The media harkened to his words like pilgrims before the Oracle of Delphi, then washed their hands of him when he could no longer serve their aims. In other words, the media treated Avenatti like he treated his clients. And they\u2019ll do it again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAvenatti is the apotheosis of a character that\u2019s been all-too-common in the Trump era: a thinly veiled fraud whom the media push because they say mean things about a Republican,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrewHolden360\/status\/1413295351746936834\">wrote<\/a> Holden. \u201cIf the media hopes to build any trust with the American people, they need to stop creating Avenattis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As it stands, the media bartenders kept Avenatti drunk on public exposure, proximity to power, and delusions of grandeur. Everyone, including Avenatti, is worse for wear because the media did not cut him off. Kennedy, the star of her eponymous show on Fox Business, said on Friday\u2019s \u201cOutnumbered\u201d that the media need \u201cto stop watering the beast of hubris and narcissism\u201d and \u201cplease, rediscover skepticism.\u201d But Holden believes nothing will change on cable, because \u201c[n]o one has faced consequences from promoting and fawning over the fraud of Avenatti.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the best solution is to make sure the networks that relentlessly pushed the creepy porn lawyer, the most prurient fantasies of the Steele Dossier, and every outlandish charge against Justice Kavanaugh experience the consequences of lower ratings? That would establish something Michael Avenatti never delivered: justice.<\/p>\n<p>Jarrett Stepman of The Daily Signal compiled many of the most embarrassing media clips about Michael Avenatti. You can watch them below:<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"CNN, Mainstream Media&#039;s Worshipping of Michael Avenatti\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yrJwjYPQvhQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p><em>The views expressed in this piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of all the things that destroyed onetime \u201cporn lawyer\u201d and now-convicted felon Michael Avenatti, the final factor may have been cable news. Avenatti, who rose to prominence as an anti-Trump &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2314386,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-945767926.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Counting Down The Worst Moments Of The Media\u2019s Love Affair With Michael Avenatti","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-587455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-945767926.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Counting Down The Worst Moments Of The Media\u2019s Love Affair With Michael Avenatti","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2314386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}