In defiance of CNN’s public scolding of him for advising his brother, disgraced New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) behind the scenes, Chris Cuomo had continued to provide advice after the New York attorney general dropped her bombshell report on his sexual misconduct, according to The Washington Post. But a Tuesday New York Times piece reported that it was Chris who advised Andrew to resign after he determined there was no way his brother would politically survive the scandal.
“Chris Cuomo has regularly spoken with Governor Cuomo by telephone over the past week and advised his brother to resign, said two people who requested anonymity to describe sensitive private conversations,” reported media correspondent Michael M. Grynbaum.
He added: “The anchor concluded last week that his brother could not survive the political maelstrom, as the governor’s longtime allies abandoned him and support in the Democratic establishment dwindled, the people said.”
This loogie in the eye of journalistic ethics came after Cuomo told his audience in May that something like this “will not happen again.” “This is a unique and difficult situation, and that's okay. I know where the line is. I can respect it and still be there for my family, which I must,” he said at the time.
Grynbaum recalled that “CNN has barred Chris Cuomo from engaging in strategy sessions with the governor’s aides, but the network has said it would not prohibit him from speaking directly with his brother about the scandal.”
But he also admitted: “That distinction is unlikely to placate critics who say CNN erred in allowing Chris Cuomo to keep broadcasting his 9 p.m. news and commentary program while his brother became the focus of a harassment scandal.”
Cuomo’s defiance of CNN’s public statements would undoubtedly hurt the network further as a politically broad swath of media critics, journalism professionals, and ethics experts continued to stack up, leaving the network cornered. And the calls for CNN to either punish or fire Cuomo were only growing as things dragged on and more information came out.
“Actually, there is no optics problem. It’s all substance. The network acknowledged as much earlier this year when it issued a statement scolding Chris Cuomo for having participated in conference calls to assist Andrew Cuomo,” chided Washington Post media critic Erick Wemple who called on CNN to investigate their star host.
Cuomo was currently on a conveniently-timed birthday vacation. A vacation that Washington Post media columnist and journalism professor Margaret Sullivan had demanded be turned into “an unpaid suspension of significant length.”
Monday’s edition of his time slot was used to play a feature about Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Tuesday’s was an extra hour of Anderson Cooper 360.
CNN has not responded to NewsBusters’ multiple requests for comment.
