On Sunday, CNN’s “Reliable Sources” proved once again to be a hotbed of misinformation as PolitiFact editor-in-chief Angie Drobnic Holan worked to prop up Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s lies about nursing home deaths. Suggesting the situation was “really complicated” and there were no “clear-cut answers,” she pushed his false claim that COVID patients brought back to nursing homes didn’t spread the virus.
Holan’s fact-free assessment was precipitated by host and media janitor Brian Stelter huffing about Cuomo blaming the media. “Governor Cuomo in New York saying he should have been more aggressive against COVID death misinformation,” he huffed. “He's kind of blaming the media for the newfound scrutiny about nursing home deaths. Do you think Cuomo’s been given an easy break by the media and is that changing?”
Asking if the media had given the corrupt Governor an “easy break,” when we knew about the disastrous harm of his order back in the Spring of 2020, proved just how unserious Stelter was a journalist. The man was given an Emmy and did media hits for his COVID leadership book for crying out loud.
But from the moment she started answering, Holan was trying to protect the man with blood on his hands. She completely bypassed the fact Cuomo’s own aide admitted to a cover-up by categorizing “the situation New York” as “really complicated.”
Adding: “Certainly, there are goings to criticize about how the Cuomo administration handled data. But the heart of the matter goes back to last year when the state was asking nursing homes to take in patients, COVID patients who were ready to be discharged from the hospital.”
According to her, “We don't see hard evidence that that made a significant difference in COVID deaths.” Her excuse was that New York’s nursing home deaths were “having the same numbers as other states around the country.” But as CNN’s Jake Tapper put it on February 14, when he was bashing Cuomo, “why they died” mattered.
“And the issue was employees, workers in the nursing homes who didn't realize they were bringing COVID-19 into the nursing homes,” she said, parroting Cuomo’s press conference talking point. “So, it is a really complicated situation. There’s not clear-cut answers here.”
But Holan was mischaracterizing the patients that were being returned to long-term care facilities. While there may have been people who were making full recoveries, there were plenty more we know were COVID-positive and returned because they didn’t need to be on ventilators and New York was worried about having space.
And if what Holan was saying was true, why did Cuomo have to rescind his order?
Back in May, NBC’s Cynthia McFadden had a Nightly News report documenting how states were handling the nursing home issue. And she threw Cuomo under the bus.
“Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont thinks forcing nursing homes to take COVID-positive patients, as most states are doing, is a path to disaster,” she said. “Over the weekend, New York's Governor Cuomo reversed his controversial policy forcing nursing homes to take back COVID patients, and says they now have COVID-only facilities like this one on standby.”
McFadden also noted: “Governor Cuomo has said it is not his responsibility to provide PPE [personal protective equipment] to nursing home facilities.”
Clearly, as evidenced by this misinformation coming from the very top, PolitiFact only served as a shield and bludgeon for those with a “D” at the end of their name.
The airtime for his misinformation from a supposed fact-checker was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from United Healthcare and Norton Antivirus. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they fund.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CNN’s Reliable Sources
February 21, 2021
11:41:61 a.m. Eastern(…)
BRIAN STELTER: Here’s another headline, Angie. This is from CNN this week. Governor Cuomo in New York saying he should have been more aggressive against COVID death misinformation. He’s suggesting misinformation-- He's kind of blaming the media for the newfound scrutiny about nursing home deaths. Do you think Cuomo’s been given an easy break by the media and is that changing?
ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN: I think the situation New York is really complicated. Certainly, there are goings to criticize about how the Cuomo administration handled data. But the heart of the matter goes back to last year when the state was asking nursing homes to take in patients, COVID patients who were ready to be discharged from the hospital.
We don't see hard evidence that that made a significant difference in COVID deaths. If you look at the statistics, New York is about having the same numbers as other states around the country. And the issue was employees, workers in the nursing homes who didn't realize they were bringing COVID-19 into the nursing homes. So, it is a really complicated situation. There’s not clear-cut answers here.
