Cuomo facing backlash for coronavirus nursing home deaths
Fox News' Bryan Llenas discusses why legislators in New York are calling for an independent investigation into whether or not the state's policies led to needless deaths in nursing homes.
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The news media that gave us Bill Clinton, “The Man from Hope,” are now trying to sell us on New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo, The Candidate From CNN – where his brother Chris anchors.
From Hope to hopeless.
The Brothers Cuomo created yet another journalism outrage Wednesday night. Younger brother Chris, who anchors for CNN, once again interviewed his older, more successful brother. It wasn’t news.
CUOMO BROTHERS' JOKEY CNN INTERVIEW IGNORING NURSING HOME CONTROVERSY SPARKS OUTRAGE
In fact, it was so horrific that it made news. As reported by NewsBusters Chris whipped out giant swabs and asked his brother, “is it true that when you are having the test administered, you inhaled and the doctor's finger went all the way up your nose and got stuck and it had to be released with a tool?”
Chris has gone from newsman to Baghdad Bob for the wannabe Cuomo presidency. And that’s especially important since the governor is widely viewed as a potential replacement should Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden falter before the election. The press is so obvious on this point that MSNBC Host Joy Reid called Andrew “a kind of acting president.”
The CNN half of the duo doesn’t ask tough questions, he clowns with his brother like they were on the set of “Saturday Night Live.”
That might not be so bad if Andrew were in a job more befitting his skill set – performer or perhaps journalist. Instead, Andrew is governor of the state hardest hit by the coronavirus. And it was as governor that Andrew ordered patients infected with the virus into nursing homes where thousands died.
Now, as Politico reported on May 7, Cuomo is “under fire for response to Covid-19 at nursing homes.” He changed course but only after more than 5,300 people had died in nursing homes.
None of that gets discussed when the Cuomos get together on TV. Or at least not when they are yucking it up on air.
Chris even joked that the giant swab was needed to “fit up that double-barrel shotgun that you have mounted on the front of your pretty face.”
The resulting segments are both an embarrassment to what remains of professional journalism and a stain on the body politic.
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Even the press has noticed before this. Columbia Journalism Review’s Jon Allsop raised the obvious question, “Should Chris be allowed to interview a family member in a journalistic setting?”
Over at Mediaite, one analyst called the interviews a “conflict of interest” way back in March, which is about seven years in quarantine time. He added that, “For the sake of journalistic integrity, their interviews need to stop.”
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They haven’t. CNN has what it considers to be a winning formula. The audience likes it and the result promotes a Democrat politician who then owes the network big time for creating a phony narrative where he has done a good job.
The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (Yes, there is one.) is pretty clear on this whole fiasco. “Journalists should: Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.”
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CNN clearly considers Cuomo a journalist although you almost have to wonder why at this point. Here’s his network bio: “Chris Cuomo anchors CNN's Cuomo Prime Time, a 9 pm nightly news program where Cuomo tests power with newsmakers and politicians from both sides of the aisle, and reports on the latest breaking news from Washington and around the world.”
Only the first part of that appears to be true — the name and time slot mostly. He’s clearly not testing his brother’s power, he’s testing CNN’s power to put his brother in the White House.