As so-called Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter ignored New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s unfolding nursing home and sexual harassment scandals on CNN Sunday, Howard Kurtz wasted no time jumping right into it for Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz. He was later joined by Federalist editor Mollie Hemingway as they formed a tag-team duo against the liberal media spin machine and their Cuomo hypocrisy.
“When Andrew Cuomo held a press conference the other day to apologize for his behavior toward young women, all three cable news networks carried it live,” he announced before the title card even left the screen. “A tacit admission that the media had botched this story by initially ignored it, playing it down, nothing to see here, let's move right along, and ‘hmm, I wonder what Donald Trump is up to.’”
After noting the CBS interview with Cuomo’s second accuser, Charlotte Bennett, Kurtz called them out for trying to cover for Cuomo in the beginning. “But the first instinct of the network newscasts, CNN, MSNBC was to do as little as possible, and sometimes nothing about the Democratic governor. They were kind of acting like political operatives,” he chided, holding up a finger to see which way the wind was blowing.
“They are scrambling for higher moral ground because they can no longer control the news agenda,” he rhetorically dropped the mic. And as a testament to how fired up he was, all of this happened before Kurtz had introduced either himself or the show.
Teeing up Hemingway, Kurtz recalled: “It took many days for the other networks to seriously jump on this story…” And after noting how many in the media were “to some degree or another, turning on him,” she pointed out the liberal media’s hypocrisy with how they chased down the obviously fictitious allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh (Click “expand”):
HEMINGWAY: I'm struck by how different the media coverage is. These women have evidence that they knew the Governor, they have photographic evidence, they have work history records. And the coverage is pretty restrained relative to what we saw when Brett Kavanaugh was accused by complete strangers of serial gang rape roaming the streets of suburban Maryland. The media took those things so seriously and said he must stepdown that his nomination must be pulled.
KURTZ: Right.
HEMINGWAY: And these were people who had no evidence they’d ever met him. Here, it’s much more restrained. Even Cuomo himself, who was horrible toward Kavanaugh, now he thinks that he deserves due process. He does deserve due process. But that should be a standard that the media applied to everybody across the board, not in the partisan fashion that they have thus far.
From there, the two squared up on the media’s refusal to cover Cuomo’s nursing home scandal in very much critical detail. “Some conservative commentators are saying that the media seem now a lot more interested in covering the women and harassment allegations than Andrew Cuomo's handling of COVID in nursing homes,” Kurtz said.
“Conservative media or non-leftist media have been reporting for a year about this policy change that sent infected or people with COVID into nursing homes, causing this death rate to skyrocket in nursing homes in New York … And now we have more evidence of the cover-up of that.” she agreed. “So, this is something that definitely needs to be focused on because it affected literally thousands of people and their families in York.”
Speaking of CNN, towards the end of the block, Kurtz teed-up on their liberal competitor for their flip-flopping on when to allow Prime Time host Chris Cuomo to report on his brother. “CNN, for years, had a policy that Chris Cuomo couldn't interview his brother. Then that was lifted early in the pandemic,” he said.
After a soundbite of Chris explaining why he couldn’t cover his brother, Kurtz added: “At the time that he said that, CNN was not covering it very extensively. But CNN has now brought back this ban: can’t interview when his brother’s in trouble.”
“CNN deserves all the mockery in the world for how they handled this,” Hemingway declared. “At the height of the crisis they were bringing the Governor onto his brother's show, like the Cuomo Brother's Happy Fun Time Variety Hour.”
This is not CNN.
Brian Stelter’s silence on Governor Cuomo’s nursing home and sexual harassment scandals were made possible because of lucrative sponsorships Chevrolet and Sandals Hotels and Resorts. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Fox News Channel’s MediaBuzz
March 7, 2021
11:00:24 a.m. EasternHOWARD KURTZ: When Andrew Cuomo held a press conference the other day to apologize for his behavior toward young women, all three cable news networks carried it live. What a dramatic turnabout. A tacit admission that the media had botched this story by initially ignored it, playing it down, nothing to see here, let's move right along, and ‘hmm, I wonder what Donald Trump is up to.’
The harassment scandal is now getting plenty of coverage with two stories about new accusers today because it's become too big to ignore, especially since CBS's Norah O'Donnell sat down with one accuser, Charlotte Bennett.
(…)
KURTZ: But the first instinct of the network newscasts, CNN, MSNBC was to do as little as possible, and sometimes nothing about the Democratic governor. They were kind of acting like political operatives. [Checks which way the wind was blowing] Maybe this will blow over, we won't have to deal with it. But when The New York Times interviewed Charlotte Bennett and a third woman, who disliked the way the Governor at a wedding, the media wind shifted with Cuomo under investigation and even some liberal pundits criticizing his conduct. They are scrambling for higher moral ground because they can no longer control the news agenda.
This is MediaBuzz. I'm Howard Kurtz.
(…)
KURTZ: Mollie, several new accusers in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post today alleging inappropriate comments and touching by Andrew Cuomo, some of it going back two decades. It took many days for the other networks to seriously jump on this story and now even we're hearing criticism from some of these other networks and programs about Andrew Cuomo's conduct. What changed?
MOLLIE HEMINGWAY: I actually think it's a great question to ask what changed. Because it's such a dramatic difference between what we saw over the last year. For the last year, he's been hailed as this most amazing governor in the entire United States and now you see that people are, to some degree or another, turning on him.
Their focused right now is on these harassment claims but even that isn't new. This is governor who has regularly made passes at women throughout his political career. So, it's kind of interesting that they're so focused on these now when we've known that this is his behavior for a long time and you have people coming forward about him trying to date staff.
I think what the question might be, if the liability of how poorly he handled the coronavirus epidemic is becoming too great so the media are focusing on this as a way to avoid looking at their own role in hyping him with coronavirus when he actually did a horrible job with it.
(…)
KURTZ: Mollie, what's your take of Nora O’Donnell’s handling of the interview and the impact of Charlotte Bennett’s televised account.
HEMINGWAY: Well, each of these women are telling stories about how they were made uncomfortable by their boss or by the governor propositioning them or trying to take them out. And these are all very interesting stories.
I'm struck by how different the media coverage is. These women have evidence that they knew the Governor, they have photographic evidence, they have work history records. And the coverage is pretty restrained relative to what we saw when Brett Kavanaugh was accused by complete strangers of serial gang rape roaming the streets of suburban Maryland. The media took those things so seriously and said he must stepdown that his nomination must be pulled.
KURTZ: Right.
HEMINGWAY: And these were people who had no evidence they’d ever met him. Here, it’s much more restrained. Even Cuomo himself, who was horrible toward Kavanaugh, now he thinks that he deserves due process. He does deserve due process. But that should be a standard that the media applied to everybody across the board, not in the partisan fashion that they have thus far.
(…)
KURTZ: Mollie, the Washington -- excuse me, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both have reports now that Cuomo aides last June, a long time ago, actually changed a report to hide the surging number of nursing home deaths in New York, and you alluded to this earlier. Some conservative commentators are saying that the media seem now a lot more interested in covering the women and harassment allegations than Andrew Cuomo's handling of COVID in nursing homes.
HEMINGWAY: Yeah, and I was struck by what was said earlier about the facts changing. The facts haven't really changed here. Conservative media or non-leftist media have been reporting for a year about this policy change that sent infected or people with COVID into nursing homes, causing this death rate to skyrocket in nursing homes in New York.
This was a policy that other governors followed, unfortunately. And now we have more evidence of the cover-up of that. Even that has been known for nearly a year. It's finally coming out in some of these more liberal publications as well. And that's good they are finally covering it.
It might be criminal what he did in terms of putting these people in -- that were infected into nursing homes, forcing them into nursing homes. The cover-up also might be criminal. So, this is something that definitely needs to be focused on because it affected literally thousands of people and their families in York. And this is the public policy issue that the media should definitely be focused on.
(…)
KURTZ: Let me toss this one to you, Mollie. CNN, for years, had a policy that Chris Cuomo couldn't interview his brother. Than that was lifted early in the pandemic. There were nine appearances by Governor Cuomo on his brother's show. A lot of joking around. And then this week Chris Cuomo said this.
CHRIS CUOMO: 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.
KURTZ: At the time that he said that, CNN was not covering it very extensively. But CNN has now brought back this ban: can’t interview when his brother’s in trouble. What do you think?
HEMINGWAY: CNN deserves all the mockery in the world for how they handled this. At the height of the crisis they were bringing the Governor onto his brother's show, like the Cuomo Brother's Happy Fun Time Variety Hour. They couldn't have done more to push that narrative, that Cuomo was doing a great job and Trump was doing a horrible job.
Now a year later, we realize basically the only thing that has worked was getting this vaccine done and getting it out to the people and everything Cuomo did was not good. The media completely lied, CNN was a huge part of that in how they pushed this narrative that was at odds with the facts. It is ridiculous that now that they actually need to be doing deeper commentary and reporting, that they pull the brother away when he would -- when it actually matters. It's just ridiculous.
KURTZ: Well, what's striking to me and I think CNN didn't help itself by lifting the ban early on, but what was striking was watching liberal writers sort of changing their tune. Now, for example, Molly Jong-Fast wrote a piece in Vogue a year ago, headlined: “why we are crushing on Andrew Cuomo right now.” To her credit, she’s in The Baily Beast the other day a follow-up piece, “my Cuomo crush turned out to be Stockholm syndrome.”
