On Monday morning, broadcast networks ABC and NBC and cable news outlet CNN continued their blackout of the investigation into New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) and his shuttering of his own anti-corruption commission. Since the story broke [1] on July 23 in The New York Times, neither one of these three news operations have covered the story.
CBS This Morning, which previously reported on the story on July 31 [2] and August 1 [3], provided an update on the scandal Monday morning in the form of a 23-second news brief regarding Cuomo’s top aide agreeing to speak with federal prosecutors who are looking into allegations the commission was steered away from anyone with ties to the governor. [MP3 audio here [4]]
Co-host Gayle King read the following news brief during the 7:30 a.m. half hour:
The Wall Street Journal says [5] a corruption case involving Governor Andrew Cuomo is gaining momentum today. Larry Schwartz is the governor’s top aide. He’s agreed to meet with federal prosecutors about Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission. Cuomo broke the group apart, but prosecutors are looking into claims that the governor's office steered investigations away from Cuomo's allies. Schwartz is staying quiet this morning.
The complete lack of coverage from ABC and NBC continued throughout both their morning and evening newscasts over the weekend as well as their respective Sunday morning talk shows. CNN’s zero coverage of the scandal dragged on over the weekend with no mentions on any of the channel’s programs. One of the co-hosts of CNN’s New Day is Chris Cuomo, who is the governor’s brother.
In addition to the two stories on CBS This Morning, Fox News Channel (FNC) has aired numerous reports on the investigation with latest being a 2-minute-and-28-second report from chief political correspondent Carl Cameron on Friday’s Special Report with Bret Baier.
Even the reliably liberal MSNBC has mentioned the scandal over a dozen times on shows ranging from Morning Joe [6] to All In with Chris Hayes to The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. Its most recent report came on August 2 when Up with Steve Kornacki aired a segment on the scandal that lasted seven minutes and 53 seconds.
Instead of covering this growing scandal involving a possible future Democratic candidate for president, New Day reported on the possible benefits of playing video games and included a discussion between the co-hosts about it that lasted a total of one minute and 4 seconds.
The complete transcript from the August 4 news brief on CBS This Morning is transcribed below.
CBS This Morning
August 4, 2014
7:32 a.m. Eastern
GAYLE KING: The Wall Street Journal says a corruption case involving Governor Andrew Cuomo is gaining momentum today. Larry Schwartz is the governor’s top aide. He’s agreed to meet with federal prosecutors about Cuomo’s anti-corruption commission. Cuomo broke the group apart, but prosecutors are looking into claims that the governor's office steered investigations away from Cuomo's allies. Schwartz is staying quiet this morning.
— Curtis Houck is News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Curtis Houck on Twitter. [7]