CNN Bans Chris Cuomo from Covering Brother’s Cover-Up as Criminal Probe Launched
New outlet bans Governor after backlash
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Establishment media outlet CNN has banned leftist opinion host Chris Cuomo from interviewing his brother who is currently facing a massive criminal investigation into the alleged cover-up of nursing home deaths in New York.
CNN said the foloowing in a statement:
“The early months of the pandemic crisis were an extraordinary time."
"We felt that Chris speaking with his brother about the challenges of what millions of American families were struggling with was of significant human interest."
“As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have had in place since 2013, which prevents Chris from interviewing and covering his brother, and that rule remains in place today. CNN has covered the news surrounding Governor Cuomo extensively.”
The announcement comes as New York's Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo is under official investigation by the FBI and U.S. attorney's office over his administration's role in the cover-up of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes in the state.
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The investigation is reportedly in the early stages and is focusing on the governor’s task force.
The state health department ordered nursing homes to accept residents being discharged from hospitals despite testing positive for COVID-19.
Earleir this month, Neon Nettle reported Cuomo's admin failed to provide the real death toll figures to a watchdog group that had requested the records.
Controversy arose after Cuomo remarked, “But who cares [if they] died in the hospital, died in a nursing home? They died.”
CNN faced backlash for allowing Chris Cuomo to interview his brother, which many critics argued made a mockery of the New York Governor's handling of the pandemic.
“This is one of the most embarrassing and self-destructive things I’ve seen a news outlet do,” far-left reporter Glenn Greenwald said.
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“I doubt even North Korean State TV would allow an anchor to ‘interview’ his own brother and use their airwaves to declare him a Great and Noble Leader.”
This is one of the most embarrassing and self-destructive things I've seen a news outlet do. I doubt even North Korean State TV would allow an anchor to "interview" his own brother and use their airwaves to declare him a Great and Noble Leader. Dynastic political power + StateTV: pic.twitter.com/nuMgSXYAnl
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 25, 2020
Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple blasted CNN’s statement, writing:
To what extent has “Cuomo Prime Time” covered the undercount scandal in recent weeks?
Not one bit. The host has plowed through plenty of worthy topics: coronavirus vaccines and variants, QAnon and conspiracy theories, the Capitol riot and impeachment, and more.
But the absence of coverage of the nursing-home scandal contrasts sharply with other CNN precincts, which have stayed on top of the story. On Sunday’s “State of the Union,” for example, host Jake Tapper ripped away, “So Governor Cuomo, who has declined to appear on this show despite dozens of requests over the past year, including this past week, made a bad decision that may have cost lives.
And then his administration hid that data from the public.”
Not that the work of Cuomo’s colleagues absolves him. “Cuomo Prime Time,” after all, brands itself as a locus of chest-beating integrity and righteousness. Yet the asymmetrical coverage of his brother — over-the-top praise when the governor is up; silence when he’s down — is indistinct from the model that CNN (quite rightly) accused conservative media outlets, including Fox News, of following vis-à-vis the Trump administration.
No charges have yet been levied against either Cuomo or any administration official, but the governor's office is accused of hiding the death toll from the public to cover-up the impact of their own actions.
Members of Cuomo’s task force include Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker.
