“When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly,” the CNN spokesperson said Tuesday. When it was first reported by The Washington Post last May that Cuomo had strategized with his brother’s aides, CNN said that it was inappropriate but did not discipline him. Cuomo “was not independent of his brother in any sense of the term, and that’s a very, very big problem,” Culver said. Journalists need to establish independence from newsmakers. These revelations can damage CNN’s reputation, and all journalists, at a time people are already suspicious of the profession, she said. While people can relate to wanting to help a family member, his primary obligation as a journalist is to CNN’s viewers, said Kathleen Culver, director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin. The last time he talked to his brother about the charges, Chris Cuomo said during his testimony, was to figure out what was going to happen and what he would tell their 90-year-old mother.Ĭuomo has insisted he has done nothing to try to influence CNN’s coverage of his brother’s political problems, and that it would be quickly found out if he did.

He resigned as governor in August to avoid a likely impeachment trial. James’ investigation found that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at least 11 women. How do I help protect my family? How do I protect him? Probably should have been thinking more about how I protect myself, which just never occurred to me.” “This is my brother, and I’m trying to help my brother through a situation where he has told me he did nothing wrong,” Chris testified. Throughout his testimony, Chris Cuomo frequently returns to family when asked to explain his frequent contact - often combative - with Andrew’s aides as they tried to figure out a way to save the governor’s job. “I can imagine it all too easy for Chris to let that bond cloud his judgment when it came to reporting the news, and following up on leads about Andrew’s political enemies.” “Always, under the mockery and machismo, was a powerful bond - the Cuomos against the world,” Shnayerson said. Still, they were fiercely competitive, said Michael Shnayerson, author of “The Contender,” an unauthorized biography of Andrew that was published in 2015. “He’s my brother, and I love him to death no matter what,” Chris Cuomo said in his testimony this past July. They frequently describe themselves as best friends. Andrew was his father’s most trusted aide and protector during Mario’s first campaign and early years as governor, an example of loyalty that Chris grew up watching even though, at 51, he is more than 13 years younger than his brother.

This is the police 2 loyalty