While court-watchers awaited the Supreme Court decisions regarding same-sex marriage, the networks had correspondents in different parts of the country gathering reaction to those affected by the rulings. ABC News had Cecilia Vega at San Francisco City Hall where hundreds of people gathered to hear the ruling on that state’s Prop 8. But TV monitors were tuned to CNN which, as we have been reporting, has been very cautious — some might say late — in getting to the news of the rulings this week.
At 10:26, ABC News reported that the Prop 8 ruling effectively meant that same-sex marriages could resume in the state.
When George Stephanopoulos went to Vega and asked, “What’s the reaction?,” there wasn’t any. “It still hasn’t been announced here on this screen, so you will see it, if you stay with us any second I’m sure,” said Vega.
Five minutes later — an eternity in breaking news coverage — Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, ex-husband of Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, came on for an interview, saying, “George, we’re just literally a second away from this crowd about to erupt.”
They didn’t. So a minute later her added, “They’re all watching a network, not to be named, George. And for whatever reason there’s a delay.”
Another five minutes went by. Stephanopoulos interviewed Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and checked-in with Terry Moran at the Supreme Court, before wrapping up ABC’s coverage with the much-promised eruption in San Francisco, which by then, wasn’t much of an eruption at all.