Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple called out CNN on Sunday for suspending its conflict-of-interest policy when it allowed anchor Chris Cuomo to interview his brother Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on the network.
While appearing on CNN, Wemple was asked by “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter what he made of the media’s coverage of the multiple sexual assault allegations against Cuomo.
Mediaite shared the discussion between Wemple and Stelter online on Sunday.
“Well it’s been pretty aggressive. I mean you’ve had significant contributions by The New York Times’s Jesse McKinley, Albany Times-Union Brendan Lyons up there, pushing the story forward,” Wemple said. “All these forces gathering, you know, sort of undoes the right-wing conspiracy theory about the mainstream media which is that we don’t cover Democratic politicians”
“But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention CNN’s own huge media story here with Chris Cuomo, the anchor at the nine o’clock hour, who covered Andrew Cuomo and had all these wonderful love-a-thon interviews with him — more than 10 of them. And they suspended the conflict of interest rule for Chris Cuomo for those interviews,” Wemple continued.
“Yet all of a sudden they’ve enforced it again now that Andrew Cuomo is in the midst of a historic scandal in the Albany State House. So I think that is a major black eye for CNN. I will say that you and other people have covered the Cuomo story very aggressively so I do want to be fair about this but it is a major black eye for this network,” Wemple told Stelter.
Stelter appeared to offer a defense for his network, pointing to fellow host Jake Tapper who said earlier Sunday that Andrew Cuomo has declined all recent interview requests.
The Hill has reached out to CNN for comment.
Andrew Cuomo is facing calls to resign from numerous Democratic lawmakers including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
De Blasio said on Sunday that Cuomo’s continued presence in office is “literally in the way of us saving lives right now” as he continued his calls for the governor to leave office. De Blasio also predicted that impeachment proceedings against Cuomo would soon begin.
Chris Cuomo in early March said he would not be covering his brother in light of the sexual misconduct allegations.
“Obviously, I am aware of what is going on with my brother. And obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother,” he said at the start of “Cuomo Prime Time.”
Cuomo’s announcement triggered widespread criticism for his apparent hypocrisy in earlier covering his brother.
New York Times White House correspondent Annie Karni tweeted, “That makes sense. What never made sense to me was Chris Cuomo covering him when things were going well for Andrew Cuomo.”
“Why did this logic not obtain during the pandemic? Was Andrew not Chris’s brother then?” former Fox News and NBC anchor Megyn Kelly tweeted at the time.