Cuomo under fire after NY Attorney General releases COVID report
Fox News correspondent Bryan Llenas has the latest from Brooklyn on 'Special Report'
Some of the most popular news programs on TV offered little-to-no coverage to the growing controversy surrounding Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after months of praising his "leadership" during the pandemic.
One of the biggest news stories of Thursday came from a report released by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who revealed that Cuomo's state Department of Health may have underreported COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent -- but anyone who relies on ABC News or CNN and MSNBC’s primetime lineup for information would have no idea.
FLASHBACK: MEDIA FAWNED OVER CUOMO'S 'LEADERSHIP' DURING COVID AS NY NURSING HOME SCANDAL BREWED
Cuomo famously directed nursing homes in the Empire State to accept patients who had or were suspected of having COVID-19. The decision created an onslaught of COVID-19 cases that infected thousands of elderly patients and resulted in hundreds of deaths among the state's most vulnerable population. The governor eventually reversed the decision, but not before thousands died from COVID-19 in New York nursing homes.
Cuomo emerged as a darling of the liberal media before the bombshell report, as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC spent months fawning over him and offering friendly platforms for the governor to promote his book on leadership.
The bombshell that the nursing home scandal could be worse than initially thought earned very little coverage on the evening programs on three broadcast networks. While NBC's "Nightly News" spent the most time on the subject clocking in at 86 seconds, CBS' "Evening News" dedicated a brief 10 seconds during a lengthier coronavirus report which didn't even mention Cuomo by name. ABC's "World News Tonight" completely skipped the story altogether.
ABC’s "Good Morning America" didn’t find time to mention the word "Cuomo" on Friday morning, according to a search of transcripts. Meanwhile, CNN and MSNBC completely avoided the subject during their most-watched primetime shows, including "Cuomo Prime Time" anchored by the governor's little brother, Chris Cuomo.
On Thursday as the news broke, only two of CNN's afternoon programs addressed the Cuomo scandal, collectively clocking in eight minutes and 18 seconds of coverage.
MSNBC’s scant coverage was even more infrequent, as the liberal network spent less than three minutes on the story that was completely ignored by the network's primetime lineup.
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CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza was even mocked on social media for suggestion that Cuomo’s coronavirus response "may have been less stellar than it seemed" when many critics pointed out that it was CNN propping up the governor in the first place.
CNN 's Brianna Keilar broke down the situation to viewers Friday and noted that Gov. Cuomo declined an invitation to appear on her show.
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