Media top headlines August 4
In media news today, Chris Cuomo stays silent on CNN about the bombshell report on his brother's sexual harassment charges, and more revelations come to light about the extent of Cuomo's advising of his brother on the scandal.
Journalist Laura Bassett wrote Tuesday for MSNBC that CNN host Chris Cuomo "should resign from covering politics or be fired" over advising his brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., on responding to the sexual harassment charges against him.
The call to oust another liberal primetime host in Cuomo followed New York Attorney General Letitia James' investigation detailing multiple instances of sexual harassment by Gov. Cuomo. The explosive report included information about the younger Cuomo working behind the scenes to help his brother respond to the allegations.
"Given this information, Andrew Cuomo should resign immediately or be impeached," Bassett wrote. "His brother, too, should resign from covering politics or be fired. It’s extremely inappropriate and unethical for a journalist to advise and craft the statements of a politician, regardless of family relation."
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Bassett's complaints about MSNBC's Chris Matthews' sexist language toward her led to his abrupt retirement last year.
The younger Cuomo admitted in May he had offered advice to his brother following a Washington Post report on his involvement. He said it was a "mistake" and apologized while denying that he tried to influence CNN's coverage of the story.
Bassett pointed out past instances when CNN's Cuomo had no trouble covering his older brother.
"Chris Cuomo has interviewed his brother on CNN multiple times about the elder Cuomo’s coronavirus response, as scores of New Yorkers were dying in a pandemic; Albany is part of his beat," Bassett wrote. "In one interview, Chris Cuomo told Andrew Cuomo he is ‘the best politician in the country.’"
"The anchor’s attempt at a journalistic compromise was to abstain from interviewing his brother about the sexual harassment scandal. But both men’s careers have benefited greatly from their cheeky, high-profile, softball interviews during a very dark time in the nation’s history," she added. "And viewers were largely unaware of the role Chris Cuomo was playing to help his brother behind the scenes."
Bassett claimed that "fair reporting and scrutiny" of Gov. Cuomo during the time he was "lionized" by the media early in the pandemic could have been a "game changer" when it came to the nursing home scandal. Cuomo's team is accused of covered up thousands of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, which critics charge was a result of his directive mandating nursing homes accept COVID-positive patients.
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"New Yorkers deserve better than a lying, harassing, misogynistic creep presiding over the state. And CNN’s viewers deserve better than a news anchor who is working on behalf of a politician he covers and helps to manipulate public opinion of him," she wrote. "Both Cuomo brothers have amassed massive power and influence, while betraying public trust. And both brothers must go."