Combat New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, D., is under fire once again, this time because of accusations of a blatant lack of transparency with the press and just calling friendly reporters to avoid difficult questions.
The Times Union, a widely respected newspaper based in Albany, the capital of New York, reported on Thursday that local reporters are tired of the governor’s tactics.
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“The Association of Legislative Correspondents (LCA), made up of dozens of reporters and editors from various news outlets covering the state capitol in Albany, sent a letter on Monday asking Cuomo to allow reporters to ask at least one supplementary question. ; diversify which reporters are selected for questions taking into account race, ethnicity, gender and age; and alert the media at least two hours before their public appearances, “wrote Times Union reporter Amanda Fries.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo was criticized for a series of cheerful interviews with his older brother.
Last year, Cuomo participated in a series of widely mocked appearances on his younger brother’s program on CNN, at the height of the New York nursing home scandal. The name of “Cuomo Prime Time”, Chris Cuomo, used to joke with the governor instead of asking difficult questions and once even admitted that he could not be objective in covering his brother.
The troubled governor has also managed to avoid difficult questions on a variety of other conventional television programs, largely ignoring local reporters in Albany. But the Association of Legislative Correspondents is now pushing the Democratic governor to change tactics.
“Albany’s press corps has not had the usual opportunity to question Governor Cuomo closely since he switched from face-to-face press conferences to Zoom in December,” LCA member Kyle Hughes told Fox News.
A New York Times reporter tweeted the entire letter:
“We trust that you, as an advocate of the free press, will recognize that our requests are reasonable and will acknowledge our concerns as the primary reporter organization responsible for passing on information about this historic pandemic to the public,” the letter said to the governor.
The Times Union scribe noted that Cuomo’s instructions were conducted via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic, allowing the governor to choose who will question him on urgent matters.
“But whoever is chosen to ask a question and their inability to ask additional questions for clarity has plagued Albany reporters for months, who have turned to social media channels to highlight inequalities,” Fries wrote. “Some reporters described that, despite attending dozens of briefings from the governor and asking to ask a question, they are passed over by reporters that Cuomo and his executive team seem to favor.”
Cuomo rejected the idea that he selects who can question him.
“What are you suggesting – that they like you and chose you in a group? I have no idea,” he said recently when pressed on the subject, according to Fries.
The letter called for a “formal change” in the way press conferences are conducted.
“In the letter, LCA reporters recommended that Cuomo take a similar approach to the virtual press conferences of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, where a variety of reporters are called and the media guarantee one question a week,” wrote Fries , adding that the spokesperson “confirmed the receipt of the letter from the LCA and said that employees are discussing how to respond to concerns.”
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Cuomo’s office told the Times Union that the briefings feature reporters in “10 different regional press bodies, in addition to LCA and the national media, many of whom did not have access in the first nine months of this pandemic. In addition, other LCA members did not receive access when the Capitol was closed after a COVID legislative outbreak and some organizations made the decision to keep their reporters out of the building. “
Cuomo’s office declined to explain to the Times Union how he determines which reporters are called.
“We strive to achieve a diverse balance in every way,” Cuomo’s spokesman told the newspaper. “It is not an ideal system, but the circumstances of the pandemic require it and sometimes the balance we seek is not found, but we always strive for it.”
Cuomo’s spokesman then tweeted an official response, which reflected the comments provided to the Times Union.
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