Given the vicissitudes of the news business, we can’t blame CNN’s Chris Cuomo for deciding that his family — more specifically, his brother Andrew — came first in his list of personal priorities.
Many would have made the same choice, being as even jobs you love tend not to love you back, whereas brothers do.
And many of us trapped in Chicago homes during the first weeks of the pandemic won’t forget the sustenance provided by the Cuomo brothers’ forthright CNN exchanges from New York. At a time when we all were worried about family, the close relationship between the then-governor of New York and his broadcaster younger brother matched the needs of the moment, especially after Chris Cuomo revealed his own COVID-19 diagnosis and started broadcasting from his basement.
But as the allegations of sexual harassment piled up against the elder Cuomo, allegations that became the substance of a blistering critical investigation, those cozy chats took on a different context. Chris Cuomo, if only by dint of association, became a liability for a network that often struggles to maintain its traditional reputation for fairness. Just ask anyone with a right-of-center opinion.
Chris Cuomo was not responsible for Andrew Cuomo’s actions. But all journalists have to realize that trust in an institution is paramount and, as his brother’s career imploded, he has found himself in a near-impossible position. So has CNN.
In the past weeks, Cuomo has insisted that he recused himself from coverage of all matters Cuomo, a statement backed by CNN. Good. But the revelations Monday from the New York attorney general’s office, which released transcripts and exhibits that clearly showed Chris Cuomo trying to blend his journalistic and his role as a brother, changed the picture. The younger Cuomo worked his CNN sources on his brother’s behalf, trying to find out which new woman, or women, might come forward and what she, or they, might say.
He did this not while on leave to aid in his brother’s defense, but while anchoring a nightly news show. No can do. That’s egregious journalistic misconduct in a high-stakes matter focused on one of the most powerful men in the country.
As a result, Cuomo, who already has been suspended, has to go. It’s not hard to imagine the CNN outrage if all this was happening on the other side of the political divide.
We feel for Chris Cuomo. We understand his doing right by his brother. But you can’t anchor or report the news when you’re trying to manipulate events behind the scenes in favor of one party, to whom you are related, all in service of an outcome you desire. Time for CNN and Cuomo to sever their connections permanently.
