CNN fires Chris ‘Fredo’ Cuomo

Some hours ago, CNN media analyst Brian Stelter penned a piece on CNN’s website that declared “CNN fires Chris Cuomo”

The article states that:

“CNN said Saturday that anchor Chris Cuomo has been "terminated" by the network, "effective immediately”.

The announcement came after an outside law firm was retained to review information about exactly how Cuomo aided his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor was accused of sexual harassment.

CNN suspended Cuomo "indefinitely" on Tuesday. The law firm retained by the network submitted its findings on Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, and CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker fired Cuomo on Saturday.

The documents -- released by New York Attorney General Letitia James after an investigation into the governor -- showed that Chris Cuomo, while working as one of CNN's top anchors, was also effectively working as an unpaid aide to the governor.

The cozy and improper nature of the relationship was conveyed through text messages obtained by James' [sic] office. The texts between the anchor and several aides and allies of the governor revealed that Chris Cuomo sought to use his connections in the press to help prepare Andrew Cuomo's team as accusers started to make their stories public”.

CNN screengrab

The news of Chris “Fredo” Cuomo advising his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was accused of sexual harassment, had surfaced in May. When Fredo admitted his ‘mistake’ back then, CNN President Jeff Zucker appeared to support Fredo saying that it was "powerful and more honest to publicly say he screwed up”   

So, what changed in the past few months that caused them to drop Fredo like a hot potato?  CNN’s statement cited mysterious “new information.”

“Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” CNN said in a statement. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately.”

“While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light,” the network added. “Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate.”

Stelter’s article mentioned at “other problems.”

“I think this may be a situation where it was death by a thousand cuts, where there were just so many headaches time and time again involving Chris Cuomo that even though many viewers loved ‘Cuomo Prime Time,’ looked forward to his show, he was causing so many headaches for the network and for CNN staffers that ultimately this decision was reached,” Stelter said.

Could those other problems be related to sexual harassment?

In any event, with Andrew Cuomo forced out of office, the Democrat leadership in New York probably want to start afresh. Hence they had to purge any  remnants of Governor Cuomo's era such as Fredo who could function as the former Governor’s proxy and a critic of the new Governor.

Make no mistake, this isn’t CNN acting ethically by standing up for Andrew Cuomo’s alleged victims or opposing Fredo’s conduct.

If Andrew Cuomo were still governor of New York and if he was exonerated of the accusations, Fredo would still be on CNN with his primetime show.  He would be looking listlessly at his minuscule audience spouting Democrat talking points and having inane ‘comedic’ exchanges with Governor Cuomo. 

Fredo would still be advising his brother while pretending to be a newsman on television. He probably functioned as Governor Cuomo's advisor since he took office. It's just that we are learning about it now because Andrew is out of power.

It is also most unlikely that CNN was totally unaware that Fredo was advising his brother. Even if we do give CNN the benefit of doubt of being unaware, Fredo would have been fired when the news surfaced for the first time in May, if CNN did care for journalistic ethics.

What was occurring at CNN is like a microcosm of how the mainstream news media functions in current times.

What Fredo did was just another instance of collusion between Democrats in politics and Democrats in journalism. Fredo abused his power as a journalist to protect his brother, who was also abusing his power as Governor by sexually harassing women. 

At least in Fredo’s case, he was doing it for his older brother, most people would do anything to protect family members.

There are innumerable more serious cases of corruption, collusion, and malpractice in the news media.

What about the entire mainstream media who carried the Trump-Russia collusion hoax for four years?

Did anybody lose their jobs for these relentless lies that caused prolonged instability and an investigation that cost $32 million of taxpayer money?

Instead, the New York Times won the Pulitzer. It was nothing short of stunning that a prize is given for blatantly fabricating over a prolonged period of time, based on misinformation fed by the Democrats.  

The people at Pulitzer failed to see the irony that their winners were misreporting on collusion while they were colluding with the Democrats.

A few years back, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow acquired President Trump's tax returns from 2005. She almost exploded on social media and made it appear that she was in possession of scandalous information. It turned out President Trump had paid his taxes.

The question is how were these tax documents obtained?

Clearly, someone among the Democrats used their influence to steal this highly confidential information and sent it to Maddow?

IRS laws state that accessing tax returns illegally could lead to a fine of up to $5,000 or up to 5 years in jail.

Did anything happen to Maddow?

She still has her MSNBC show where she animatedly peddles propaganda with overdone voice inflections.

When some in the media do dare to speak truth to power they are spied on or mocked or their access is restricted. They are branded fascists, white nationalists, and other pejorative epithets.

It is said that the function of the media is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. The mainstream media in the US are doing the exact opposite of protecting and enabling the privileged while demonizing and hurting the downtrodden.

The big question remains, will things ever change?

Improvements only occur when people understand and admit their mistakes.

The Democrats in the media are so deluded by their moral superiority that they fail to see even an iota of deficiently in anything they do.

They are remorseless because they have convinced themselves that they have ethical reasons for their actions.

They think of themselves as the moral crusaders battling uncouth, immoral, unintelligent, and bigoted hillbillies living in ‘Trump country’. Hence, falsehoods, lies, and propaganda are fair game because their struggle is for the larger good of enabling a permanent rule of the Democrats.

As a news consumer, you must always presume every news you read to be false until proven true. It is most unfortunate but that is the reality.

Do not expect CNN or any other outlet to reform any time soon.

While Fredo must be judged harshly, his conduct was no different from the behemoths of the news media who continue to hold their jobs.

Thomas Lifson adds:

CNN should never have allowed Chris Cuomo to cover his brother. That's an obvious conflict of interest.

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