Brian Stelter Tries to Explain CNN’s Handling of Chris Cuomo Controversy, Calls It a ‘Conundrum’ With ‘No Perfect Answer’
CNN’s Brian Stelter addressed the serious media story surrounding his network Sunday regarding Chris Cuomo. He said it’s an “optics problem” for CNN, but offered several justifications for the position the network is taking and pointed to Cuomo’s ratings this past week to say “viewers wanted to see him on TV.”
CNN faced serious criticism for Cuomo’s multiple friendly interviews with his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, last year, mainly focused on his pandemic leadership. After the first allegations of sexual harassment came out, Cuomo told viewers, “Obviously I’m aware of what’s going on with my brother. And obviously I cannot cover it because he is my brother. Now, of course, CNN has to cover it. They have covered it extensively and they will continue to do so.”
Weeks later, news dropped that Cuomo not only advised his brother but participated in strategy calls. Cuomo defended himself on air but apologized for putting his colleagues “in a bad spot.”
The report last week from the New York Attorney General’s Office showed that the CNN host appeared to have helped his brother draft his statement responding to harassment allegations. Cuomo did not address the report on air, and this week he is on vacation — though he said it was preplanned.
CNN didn’t discipline Cuomo.
Stelter told viewers Sunday that CNN management has made it clear to Cuomo he can’t talk about his brother on TV and can no longer participate in strategy sessions.
After speaking with CNN colleagues, Stelter told viewers, “What I found is a more complicated story than you might think. This has been a conundrum for CNN that has no perfect answer, no perfect solution.”
Stelter said the big question right now is whether Cuomo can still anchor his show.
But then he said “Chris showed that he can” in the past week, because “he tuned out the family drama and led compelling interviews during Cuomo Prime Time all while dealing with what has to be one of the hardest periods of his adult life.”
Stelter even brought up Cuomo’s ratings to say, “Viewers wanted to see him on TV, and let’s be honest, this is TV, so that’s not a totally irrelevant factor.”
He said Cuomo should “speak out when the time is right” because “he’s a part of the story.”
In response to people calling for CNN to suspend or fire Cuomo, Stelter told viewers, “Telling a well-off host to hang out by the pool for a couple of weeks is not a real punishment.”
An “actual punishment,” Stelter said, is “scolding a host in public,” pointing to a statement CNN gave in May that said, “It was inappropriate to engage in conversations that included members of the Governor’s staff, which Chris acknowledges. He will not participate in such conversations going forward.”
“Some of the same critics who slammed him for interviewing his brother about covid are knocking him now for staying silent,” he continued, referring to that as “bad-faith nonsense.”
At one point Stelter said that CNN “is so much bigger than any one anchor,” and pointed to critical coverage of the New York governor’s sexual harassment scandal on other programs.
He admitted that CNN has an “optics problem” and this all makes the network “look awkward,” but said that feelings within CNN are mixed.
The issue is whether Chris can continue to do his job, continue to be trusted by the audience. Clearly the leaders at CNN think so. But ultimately that’s up to you. That’s up to the people who tune in, or don’t, every night. Trust in this business is earned every day, inch by inch, minute by minute, show by show.
Back in March, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple called out CNN over this very issue — during an appearance on Reliable Sources — and the fact that the network was okay with the “love-a-thon” Cuomo brothers interviews, but then enforced conflict of interest rules when the scandals surrounding the governor heated up.
You can watch above, via CNN.
