CNN's Chris Cuomo ignoring his brother Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus controversy is a reminder why conflicts of interest poison the news

The Washington Post

On his Monday night CNN program, host Chris Cuomo provided an update on the biggest story of the past year, calling the number of people getting vaccinated "good news," says The Washington Post's Erik Wemple. "Here’s an update that he skipped: Just hours before Cuomo Prime Time aired, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo held a news conference to address his state’s nursing-home scandal," says Wemple. "Under his leadership, the state has shown a staggering lack of transparency regarding the extent of coronavirus-related deaths in New York nursing homes. 'We should have provided more information faster,' said Cuomo in the press briefing, which addressed an undercount of nursing-home deaths in the state. That story — the hottest on the covid beat on Monday — didn’t make the cut on Cuomo Prime Time. Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise: Chris Cuomo and Andrew Cuomo are brothers, and journalists can’t reliably cover their brothers. Except that Chris Cuomo did cover his brother, famously, during the early months of the pandemic. As the coronavirus spread around the country, Andrew Cuomo turned in more than 10 appearances on Cuomo Prime Time. The heartwarming moments stick out: In May, Chris Cuomo presented a gigantic test swab to joke about the governor’s televised coronavirus test. They laughed about their parents quite a bit, too. At the end of one appearance, Chris Cuomo thanked his brother for coming on the air. 'Mom told me I had to,' replied the governor. The TV host rolled his eyes....To what extent has Cuomo Prime Time covered the undercount scandal in recent weeks? Not one bit. The host has plowed through plenty of worthy topics: coronavirus vaccines and variants, QAnon and conspiracy theories, the Capitol riot and impeachment, and more. But the absence of coverage of the nursing-home scandal contrasts sharply with other CNN precincts, which have stayed on top of the story."