Media top headlines May 31
ABC's Jonathan Karl saying some journalists have 'egg' on their faces over the Wuhan lab leak theory and more round today's top media headlines
Fox News contributor Joe Concha said CNN's Chris Cuomo should have been fired or suspended "a long time ago" while discussing the latest "mess" embroiling the liberal host and his network on Monday.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper criticized Cuomo last week after he admitted to giving his brother New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D., advice over handling sexual harassment allegations, saying he agreed Cuomo had put the network in a "bad spot." Concha said the trouble went back further than this month, pointing to a string of embarrassments for Cuomo and CNN since 2020.
"Think about what CNN has allowed Chris Cuomo to get away with," he said. "Remember, it was March 2020 when he got VIP COVID testing when no one else in New York could get testing when that pandemic began, courtesy of his brother."
TAPPER CRITICIZES CHRIS CUOMO FOR ADVISING GOVERNOR BROTHER: ‘HE PUT US IN A BAD SPOT’
Concha also outlined other Cuomo incidents over the past year, such as his gushy interviews with his brother at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic and revelations he coached ex-Trump confidante Michael Cohen before an interview.
"All those things should have had Chris Cuomo gone or at least suspended a long time ago, and now this, advising his brother how to beat sexual harassment claims," Concha said. "It is a mess at that network at this point, and that's why in primetime they've lost more than 70 percent of their audience just from the beginning of this year."
Cuomo is CNN's top-rated host but his numbers have plummeted along with the rest of the network's in the Biden era.
CNN President Jeff Zucker admonished Cuomo for his conduct with his brother but did not formally discipline him, calling his conduct a "mistake" at a network staff-wide meeting last week. Tapper went further in an interview on the New York Times "Sway" podcast.
"Such a complicated issue. And obviously this is my company and my home and my workplace. And so, that said, I cannot imagine a world in which anybody in journalism thinks that that was appropriate," Tapper said. "In his apology that he delivered on air, [he] said that he put us in a bad spot. And I would also agree with that."
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Cuomo's conduct has vexed other colleagues as well. A CNN source told Fox News last week "everyone is p---ed" at him.