NEW YORK (AP) – Some television programs age much better than others.
For CNN, last spring’s primetime joke between Chris Cuomo and his older brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, looks worse in retrospect when the governor’s administration is questioned about his role in not disclosing the true number of nursing homes COVID-19 deaths.
CNN is covering this story, but not on Chris Cuomo’s show. The network said it reinstated Cuomo’s ban on interviewing or making stories about his brother who had been temporarily suspended last spring.
The two brothers were in the spotlight last March. Chris Cuomo picked up COVID-19 and continued to anchor his program in his basement, while the governor dealt with New York’s hellish days as the nation’s initial epicenter of the coronavirus. Andrew Cuomo’s quasi-daily briefing was widely televised and, for some viewers, adopted as a counterpoint to those advocated by former President Donald Trump.
Nine times, between March 19 and June 24, 2020, the governor appeared on his brother’s program. The small talk and brotherly love between the two Queens Italians was fun, though occasionally extravagant, as when Chris Cuomo mocked his brother’s big nose with a giant cotton swab, he said it would be necessary to do a COVID-19 test.
“I found these interviews really fun and maybe Chris could ask his brother questions that other people can’t,” said Roy Gutterman, professor of media law at Syracuse University. “But from the beginning, I thought it was totally inappropriate.
“It’s Journalism 101,” he said. “We tell our students that you should not interview your family and friends.”
Politics avoids conflict of interest – can one brother really be expected to ask difficult questions of another? – or at least the appearance of one.
Through a spokeswoman, CNN said the first months of the pandemic were an extraordinary time.
“We felt that Chris talking to his brother about the challenges facing millions of American families was of significant human interest,” said CNN. “As a result, we made an exception to a rule that we have been in force since 2013 that prevents Chris from interviewing his brother, and that rule remains in effect today.”
Largely bubbling under the radar for months, questions about Andrew Cuomo have surfaced in recent weeks. The New York attorney general released a report stating that the administration minimized the number of nursing home residents who died of COVID-19, excluding those who died elsewhere, usually a hospital.
This was significant because of a Cuomo administration directive in March that nursing homes should not deny a patient’s admission or readmission because they had COVID-19. The policy was terminated two months later.
Keeping the true number of nursing home residents who died theoretically hidden would deflect any blame for a bad policy choice. The governor held officials who enter nursing homes responsible for spreading the virus to the vulnerable population, not patients brought with COVID-19. He said it would be discriminatory not to allow these patients to enter asylums.
Last week, it was revealed that an aide to Andrew Cuomo told New York lawmakers that the true picture of deaths in nursing homes was not revealed for fear of being used against the governor during an investigation launched by the Trump Justice Department.
The last time the governor appeared on his brother’s program in June, Chris Cuomo asked him, “Nursing homes. People died there. They didn’t have to. It was poorly managed. And the operators received immunity. What do you have to say about this?”
The governor replied that part of what his brother said was incorrect. “But that’s okay,” he said. “It’s your show. You say what you want. “
He went on to say that it was a tragic situation “and we have to figure out how to do better next time”.
CNN covered the most recent events several times outside of Chris Cuomo’s program, including at least 24 times in the past week. Two notable examples were a complete report by Brianna Keilar on January 29 and Jake Tapper on Sunday “State of the Union”. Both anchors said they asked Andrew Cuomo to appear on his show and were rejected – dozens of times, in the case of Tapper.
The governor “made a wrong decision that could have cost lives and so his government hid this data from the public,” said Tapper.
Although Chris Cuomo, following his network’s policy, didn’t address the latest stories, the side game with his brother came just before the election last October, in a heated discussion on his show with the Trump campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh.
Murtaugh criticized Cuomo for asking “hypocritical questions” about whether the Trump administration took COVID-19 seriously and referred to the giant swab.
“Does this look like some guys who were taking it seriously?” he said. “You invited your brother to Cuomo Brothers Comedy Hour.”
“Yes, I did,” replied Chris Cuomo. “It was very funny.”
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Associated Press correspondent Marina Villeneuve in Albany, NY and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.