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Since data released January 28 from New York's attorney general indicated that the state may have undercounted coronavirus nursing-home deaths by as much as 50 percent, some of the primary news outlets that spent so much time praising Gov. Andrew Cuomo are now underplaying what conservative media is calling a "bombshell" report.
Between March 3, 2020 and January 26, 2021, Cuomo appeared on CNN at least 47 times, though he hasn't been on the network since then, according to the network's website, not even on his brother Chris Cuomo's show, where he'd been a staple, oftentimes appearing to trade humorous barbs.
On one occasion, Chris Cuomo brought out a comically giant swab for coronavirus testing and said to his laughing brother, "This was the actual swab that was being used to fit up that double-barreled shotgun that you have mounted up that pretty face." On other occasions they spoke about recipes and fought over who their mom liked more, segments that are coming back to haunt the network.
According to the Media Research Center (MRC), a conservative watchdog group, CNN dedicated 26 minutes and three seconds to the nursing-home scandal between Thursday morning and Saturday morning, while it was just 12 minutes and two seconds at MSNBC. Fox News, on the other hand, gave the story more than 200 minutes.
On the day the story broke, ABC News ignored it while CBS News gave it one minute and 8 seconds the following day. Over the first two days, NBC News focused on the story for four minutes and 17 seconds, according to the MRC.
"It's bad enough that Cuomo-compromised networks like CNN were going to try and ignore this," said Tim Graham, MRC's director of media analysis. "But they aerobically touted Cuomo as the icon of COVID competence, the triumphant hero to Trump the ignorant knave."
In fact, the favorable treatment of the governor on behalf of his brother has been a topic of discussion from both sides for a long time, with Matthew Gertz of the progressive Media Matters for America referring to them nine months ago as the "obviously unethical Cuomo Brothers interviews."
And Reason magazine, which leans Libertarian, wrote in May that "if Donald Trump, Jr., had a show on Fox News and used it to playfully antagonize Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner while thousands of elderly Americans suffocated to death, CNN would bash it as shamefully distracting state TV."
CNN did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment, but Ana Navarro Cardenas, one of its political commentators, addressed the situation months ago by tweeting: "For months, @CNN has carried almost 24/7 sobering Covid-news. A few minutes of friendly bantering b/w 2 brothers w/high profile, high-stress jobs, is not supposed to be journalism. It's called humor. It is a coping mechanism for some of us. Simple. If it offends you, don't watch."
CNN chief Jeff Zucker told The New York Times in April, "You get trust from authenticity and relatability and vulnerability. That's what the brothers Cuomo are giving us right now."
According to the January 28 report from New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, the state undercounted deaths in nursing homes by the thousands because it did not include those with positive tests in their living quarters who were subsequently taken to the hospital where they died of COVID-19. And the New York State Department of Health reported that a Cuomo directive resulted in 6,326 COVID-positive residents being admitted to nursing home facilities in 2020 between March 25 and May 8.
"Cuomo was smooth and effective in his daily briefings. Live coverage made him look like a chief executive who was on top of his game. But appearances were deceptive. There is a difference between looking decisive and actually making good decisions," said John Pitney, the Roy P. Crocker professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College.
Bloomberg columnist Eli Lake, meanwhile, tweeted Friday: "I think it's safe to say at this point that @andrewcuomo conned the national media on his COVID leadership. He made a horrendous decision on nursing homes and then covered it up on the death counts. Shame on him. But also shame on the journalists who couldn't stop swooning."
An MRC report on Tuesday says, "In the aftermath of findings that the Andrew Cuomo administration underreported the number of COVID deaths linked to New York nursing homes and thus tried to cover up the deadly consequences of his decision to send COVID patients into such facilities, the more liberal networks have shown little interest in the story while Fox News has covered the bombshell extensively."
The report calls out MSNBC's Morning Joe for giving the nursing home story "a mere 20 seconds at the beginning of the show, with a promise of more later, but the subject was not brought up again."
The MRC, though, specifically praises CNN's Brianna Keilar, who "incredibly stood out since she not only was the first anchor on her network to break the story on Thursday, but she revisited the matter on Friday, devoting a 15-minute commentary to calling out Gov. Cuomo." Her segment ended with: "And again, we welcome Gov. Cuomo on the program."
Saturday on Fox & Friends on Fox News, the ensemble cast accused much of the media of a cover-up, playing video of anchor Lester Holt and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon on NBC and anchor Amy Robach on ABC fawning over the New York governor for his handling of the pandemic. The Fox team also belittled the International Emmy Awards for rewarding him with a "Founders Award" for his "masterful" coronavirus briefings.
About the writer
Paul Bond has been a journalist for three decades. Prior to joining Newsweek he was with The Hollywood Reporter. He ... Read more