I don’t even know where to start on all the problems with this.
But here’s a good place: We’re talking about serious allegations of sexual harassment. How do staffers at CNN — especially women — feel about a powerful employee trying to help someone, even if it is his brother, defuse and overcome allegations of disturbing sexual misbehavior? How do the women who made these allegations feel about a high-profile cable news network personality trying to help the man accused of such awful things? How about the citizens of New York?
Then there’s the journalism part of this.
It’s one thing to recuse yourself from coverage. It’s another to try to go behind the scenes and try to help shape what happens. Chris Cuomo is advising Gov. Cuomo on strategy, which you would assume includes how to deal with the media and change the media narrative. In other words, while Chris Cuomo’s colleagues and other media outlets are doggedly working on this story, Chris is advising his brother and his brother’s staff on how to deal with the media and their reporting.
And, at the heart of all this, a journalist is helping a politician.
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