Reacting on CNN’s The Situation Room to Thursday’s unspeakable shooting at the Annapolis, Maryland newspaper The Capital Gazette, Chris Cuomo decreed that, in reference to the lack of gun control, “society that has just decided to accept this type of violence,” that there’s “no real outcry” for shootings like Thursday’s against journalists.
Speaking to host Wolf Blitzer, Cuomo pivoted from discussing how, at the time, there’s wasn’t a lot known about the shooting to declaring that “[t]here is a familiarity that is somewhat heartbreaking, Wolf, that we have a society that has just decided to accept this type of violence, that there is no real outcry that ever manifests itself in anything happening.”
Cuomo put in a plug for his interview with New York Democratic “Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and other lawmakers” on Cuomo PrimeTime before sounding a lot like his brother and Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo: “[T]here's nothing meaningful on the federal level being done about these. So, the familiarity is a little haunting and painful.”
“The question mark is what the motive was of this shooter, whether or not it was targeting media, and if so, what does that mean, what is it reflective of, what can we do about it,” Cuomo added in a pivot to the speculation that the Annapolis did it because of the growing avalanche of press criticism in recent years.
Blitzer continued on that media theme, promising not to speculate but, again, doing just that in stating that “if it was targeting the media, there have been a lot of warning signs out there in recent weeks and months that maybe news organizations should step up their security.”
Cuomo reminded viewers that CNN takes security “very seriously,” so he wondered if that should be extended to news outlets like the current policy debate about further fortification of schools like government buildings have.
Biased and liberal pontificating aside, Cuomo and Blitzer ended the hour on a hopeful tone and the important work of The Capital Gazette journalists who have promised that they will be putting out a Friday morning print paper, which is terrific news:
CUOMO: If anything, it would probably up the resolve of journalists because it's just a reminder of how important the job is and how high the stakes are.
BLITZER: You can imagine how tough it is for those reporters over at The Capital Gazette in Anapolis. They're actually reporting on what is going on and they're going to be putting out a newspaper tonight, tomorrow morning, how painful that must be.
CUOMO: You know, I bet you if the minds and hearts in that newsroom are geared towards doing it right, because that's what the injured and the gone would have wanted for them. You know, this is a different profession that we're in. Do out of passion as much as they do out of some sense of a job.
To see the relevant transcript from CNN’s The Situation Room on June 28, click “expand.”
CNN’s The Situation Room
June 28, 2018
6:57 p.m. Eastern
CHRIS CUOMO: There is a familiarity that is somewhat heartbreaking, Wolf, that we have a society that has just decided to accept this type of violence, that there is no real outcry that ever manifests itself in anything happening. We’re talking to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and other lawmakers tonight, there's nothing meaningful on the federal level being done about these. So, the familiarity is a little haunting and painful. The question mark is what the motive was of this shooter, whether or not it was targeting media, and if so, what does that mean, what is it reflective of, what can we do about it?
WOLF BLITZER: Cause if it was and we don't know what the motive was, but if it was targeting the media, there have been a lot of warning signs out there in recent weeks and months that maybe news organizations should step up their security.
CUOMO: Look, I mean, you know, we take it very seriously here at CNN. You know, one of the arguments that we often have about school shootings are why aren't they as secure as the buildings where the lawmakers are and where you and I work? Why? Isn't it worth the money? That’s something you could do that avoids this absurd gun debate that we get into every once in a while that nothing comes about. But you could secure situations. Here, there was a glass door involved that was fired through, apparently obviously that's not the safest mechanism, obviously. There are some societal arguments, but certainly you could make places harder targets. I think that it's important for people to know no matter how pernicious, no matter how wicked this man's motive and specific targeting turned out to have been, it’s irrelevant to how the job is going to be done. If anything, it would probably up the resolve of journalists because it's just a reminder of how important the job is and how high the stakes are.
BLITZER: You can imagine how tough it is for those reporters over at The Capital Gazette in Anapolis. They're actually reporting on what is going on and they're going to be putting out a newspaper tonight, tomorrow morning, how painful that must be.
CUOMO: You know, I bet you if the minds and hearts in that newsroom are geared towards doing it right, because that's what the injured and the gone would have wanted for them. You know, this is a different profession that we're in. Do out of passion as much as they do out of some sense of a job.
