The problem with Chris Cuomo interviewing his brother was easy to see. No one can be expected to conduct an impartial, levelheaded interview with a sibling that will serve viewers in a time of confusion and need. For this reason, Chris Cuomo had for long stretches been barred from interviewing or covering his brother, a sensible precaution.

Zucker also had a conflict of interest: He and the governor were friendly. Some social relationships of this sort are regrettable but probably unavoidable. Powerful, well-connected people in New York are bound to know one another, and sometimes they’ll hit it off. That’s why a best practice for journalists is to avoid matters involving their close friends or relations. In most newsrooms, it is a sacred value that the business side of the company be kept separate from editorial operations—a necessary division that protects editorial independence and integrity.

If the conversations that CNN executives had with Andrew Cuomo are indeed standard operating procedure for television news, that’s more damning than most of the harshest criticism directed against the medium. To recap: They were allegedly conferring with a friend and former boss about interview topics before parading him on air for a puffy public-relations exercise. That robbed the public of the opportunity to hear Andrew Cuomo answer tough questions—and as it happened, Cuomo’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic had serious flaws, which only became clear later. Most notably, New York undercounted deaths in nursing homes, then aggressively tried to hide the true numbers.