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It doesn’t take a journalism degree to know that covering a family member is ethically dubious, or that being a journalist and a strategist for a politician at the same time is a huge no-no. CNN’s Chris Cuomo managed to do both.
“It’s Journalism 101,” Roy Gutterman, a communications law expert at Syracuse University, told USA Today earlier this year. “We tell our students you shouldn’t interview your family and friends.”
The report finding that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women doesn’t only reflect poorly on the New York governor as a leader and as a man. It also reflects poorly on his brother as a member of the media.
It was already no secret that Chris Cuomo had thrown journalistic caution to the wind by not only having his brother repeatedly on his show for less-than-critical interviews, but much worse, by playing a significant role in helping to craft his brother’s public response to the harassment allegations while actively employed and engaged as a journalist. But the report released last week by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office offered new and troubling insight into the extent that Cuomo helped in that response.
Chris Cuomo was part of a group that had “ongoing and regular discussions about how to respond to the allegations publicly,” according to the report. There’s an email from Chris Cuomo included in the report in which he appears to have been involved in drafting a public statement for his brother. A conflict of interest this big can be spotted from space, and has only gotten worse as more details have emerged.
“I think that, as journalists, it’s our responsibility to act in the most responsible possible way, not only to maintain journalistic integrity, but also for the public to regain trust in journalism and television news,” a current CNN staffer told Buzzfeed News while asking to remain anonymous. “And the fact that Chris Cuomo wasn’t fired over his inappropriate conflict of interest in actively affecting a news story is not only irresponsible of CNN, but also a disgrace to journalism.”
We agree with them. There’s plenty about this situation that is disgraceful — mainly Andrew Cuomo’s alleged actions and the harmful way he has responded to the report findings, but also the poor message Chris Cuomo and CNN leadership are sending about journalistic ethics.
We don’t begrudge someone wanting to help their brother, but this obviously could have been handled differently. The report that CNN executives offered Chris Cuomo a leave of absence so he could advise his brother, and that Cuomo declined, is infuriating. He clearly should have accepted, and CNN leadership never should have made it optional in the first place.
Earlier this year, CNN did acknowledge that Chris Cuomo had acted inappropriately after reports surfaced that he participated in strategy calls involving his brother. But he has not been disciplined by the network. CNN President Jeff Zucker said previously that Cuomo “made a mistake” but that suspending him would be ”punishment for the sake of punishing.” What does that even mean? When someone makes a mistake of this magnitude, there should be consequences. That applies to both Cuomo and the network.
“The lack of professional standards was appalling during the early days of COVID coverage when Chris routinely had the governor on his program to show off about Andrew’s handling of COVID, bash Trump and do comedy sketches,” Jeffrey McCall, a communication professor at DePauw University, told Fox News. “CNN should have never let Chris cover his brother for either good or bad news, and only decided to prohibit such coverage once the governor’s news became all bad.”
The lack of accountability here doesn’t just send a bad signal about what counts as journalism at CNN. It also further erodes public trust in journalism at a time we can ill afford it.