NEW YORK (AP) – Some television shows age much better than others.
For CNN, the struggle between Chris Cuomo and his older brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, has been getting worse since last spring, as the government’s government is being questioned about its role in failing to disclose the true number of nursing homes COVID-19 to make. deaths.
CNN covers the story, but not in the show of Chris Cuomo. The network said it had reinstated a ban on Cuomo’s interviews or stories about his brother being temporarily suspended last spring.
The brothers were both in the spotlight in March last year. Chris Cuomo captured COVID-19 and went on to anchor his show from his basement, while the governor treated the hellish days of New York as the early epicenter of the country’s coronavirus. Andrew Cuomo’s almost daily briefing was widely broadcast and was accepted by some viewers as a counterpoint to those held by former President Donald Trump.
Nine times between March 19 and June 24, 2020, the governor appears in his brother’s show. The subjects and brotherly love between the two Italians from Queens were delicious as it was sometimes cheesy, as when Chris Cuomo mocked his brother’s big nose with a giant cotton swab, he said it would be necessary to give him a COVID-19 test.
“I found these interviews very entertaining, and perhaps Chris could ask his brother questions that others cannot,” said Roy Gutterman, a professor of media science at Syracuse University. ‘But from the beginning I thought it was inappropriate.
“It’s journalism 101,” he said. “We tell our students not to interview your family and friends.”
The policy avoids a conflict of interest – can one brother really be expected to ask difficult questions to another? – or at least the appearance of one.
Through a spokesman, CNN said the first months of the pandemic were an extraordinary time.
“We felt that Chris was talking to his brother about the challenges that millions of American families were struggling with were of great human importance,” CNN said. “As a result, we have made an exception to a rule that we have been following since 2013, which prevents Chris from interviewing his brother, and the rule still remains today.”
Questions about Andrew Cuomo, who has been bubbling under the radar for months, have come to the fore in recent weeks. The New York Attorney General has issued a report stating that the administration has kept to a minimum the number of residents of nursing homes who have died of COVID-19 from those who have died elsewhere, usually a hospital. to close.
It was important because of a Cuomo administration directive in March that nursing homes should not refuse admission or readmission to a patient because they had COVID-19. The policy was revoked two months later.
Hiding the true number of nursing homes that have died will theoretically infer any guilt for a bad policy choice. The governor blamed staff entering nursing homes for spreading the virus to the vulnerable population, not patients brought in with COVID-19. He said it would be discriminatory not to let the patients into nursing homes.
Last week, it was revealed that an assistant to Andrew Cuomo told lawmakers in New York that the true picture of deaths in nursing homes was not disclosed for fear it would be used against the governor during an investigation by Trump’s department of justice.
The last time the governor appeared on his brother’s show in June, Chris Cuomo asked him: “Nursing homes. People are dead there. They do not have to. This is mismanagement. And the operators gained immunity. What do you have to say about it? ”
The governor replied that some of what his brother had said was wrong. “But it’s OK,” he said. “This is your show. You just say what you want to say. ‘
He further said it was a tragic situation “and we need to figure out how to do it better next time.”
CNN has discussed the recent developments several times outside of Chris Cuomo’s show, including at least 24 times alone last week. Two notable cases were a thorough report by Brianna Keilar on January 29 and Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday. Both anchors said they asked Andrew Cuomo to appear in their show and was turned down dozens of times, in the case of Tapper.
The governor ‘made a bad decision that could have cost lives, and then his administration hid the data from the public,’ Tapper said.
Although Chris Cuomo, according to his network’s policy, did not address the latest stories, the by-game with his brother just before the election last October in a fierce erasure on his show with Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh, appears.
Murtaugh criticized Cuomo for asking “self-righteous questions” about whether the Trump administration took COVID-19 seriously, referring to the giant sweater.
“Looks like some guys took it seriously?” he said. “You addressed your brother for the Cuomo Brothers Comedy Hour.”
“Yes, I have,” Chris Cuomo replies. “It was funny as hell.”
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Associated Press correspondent Marina Villeneuve in Albany, NY and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.