Brian Stelter boasts CNN's coverage of Cuomo despite network's history of skipping, downplaying scandals

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CNN's leftwing media guru Brian Stelter made the bold argument that his network's coverage of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is something to be proud of. 

Speaking at PolitiFact's "virtual festival of fact-checking" on Monday, Stelter was asked about how networks like CNN can improve on being "objective" and seek a "balance in fairness" in its coverage. 

Stelter responded in part by boasting CNN's reporting on the embattled governor.

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"When the New York governor is embroiled in multiple scandals, CNN can't ignore it. And thankfully we haven't of course," Stelter said. "And there's been great work by [Jake] Tapper and Brianna [Keilar] and by New York Bureau correspondents work over there, you know, but that kind of news coverage, I think, is seen by viewers as a sign that we are playing it straight, and that we are being fair. And I would like to believe that every day, when we wake up, when we work in these newsrooms we work for these organizations, we can either win a little bit of trust or we can lose a little bit of trust. 

He continued, "I do believe that in lots of small ways every day, journalists are winning trust back. It’s hard to measure, and it’s never going to be as newsworthy as big screw-ups or anonymous source failures, but I do think it’s happening every day in small ways."

What Stelter didn't mention at PolitiFact's "virtual festival of fact-checking" is the fact that CNN's coverage of Cuomo's scandals ranges from minimal to non-existent. 

For example, CNN has avoided the latest developments of the governor's political woes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that the New York Attorney General's investigation has expanded to include allegations that the Cuomo administration was threatening to withhold the coronavirus vaccine from various counties if the governor didn't receive their support amid calls for his resignation. 

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CNN's poorly-watched morning show "New Day" was the only program on the entire network to acknowledge a damning report from The New York Times that detailed the Cuomo administration's effort to deliberately block the release of data on COVID nursing home deaths, which the paper tied to the release of the governor's memoir "American Crisis." The book, which came out in October 2020, prematurely touted the Democrat's "leadership" during the early months of the pandemic. 

Last month, CNN went an entire week avoiding three separate controversies that emerged within days of one another, including a ninth woman who accused the governor of sexual misconduct, allegations that the Cuomo administration misappropriated government resources including his staff to work on his memoir, and how he prioritized COVID testing in the early months of the pandemic for members of his family, including his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Chris Cuomo, host of "Cuomo Prime Time," told his viewers that he "obviously" cannot cover his brother's scandals as they emerged earlier this year despite how he famously invited the Democratic governor onto his show nearly a dozen times for chummy interviews and even to perform prop comedy. 

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However, even if "Cuomo Prime Time" isn't supposed to cover the governor, CNN's other primetime shows "Anderson Cooper 360" and "CNN Tonight with Don Lemon" have offered little to no coverage of the various scandals. 

CNN spent much of 2020 hailing Gov. Cuomo's response to the pandemic and offered minimal coverage of the brewing nursing home scandal that began last spring. 

Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.