Source: Spencer Platt / Getty
The buzz of the Sunday morning talk shows was a CNN interview with Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple. The writer called out the network for letting anchor Chris Cuomo conduct glowing, “love-a-thon” interviews with his now-scandal-plagued brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Wemple started out on topic during his appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” before host Brian Stelter asked about “the media’s coverage” of the governor’s scandals “up until now.”
“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention CNN’s own huge media story here,” Wemple said.
“Chris Cuomo, the anchor at the 9 o’clock hour, who covered Andrew Cuomo and had all these wonderful love-a-thon interviews with him — more than 10 of them.”
Wemple cited the network suspending the conflict of interest rule to allow Cuomo’s ten-part interview saga and said shame them for doing so. “That is a major black eye for CNN,” Wemple concluded
The entire exchange felt like a blame game promotion, after the fact, of course. You can say the Washington Post, New York Times and New York Post “aggressively” covered Governor Cuomo, but still what’s missing is nobody had the courage to challenge him when.
What we’re seeing now and how the scandals have grown against Cuomo is only convenient because others came forward. This wasn’t because of hard-hitting journalism by the Times or other, but rather a follow-up job. And CNN got caught with their pants down for allowing the “Cuomo Bros” to use their airwaves frivolously.
Wemple was right. This is a black eye for the network but stop pretending the members of the media have been fair about holding Cuomo accountable. If you were reporting the story, it’s time for Cuomo to resign.
Listen to Pat’s thoughts on CNN’s reporting below.
