How Not To Be A Journalist

I never went to J-School. That’s what most journalists call the college that they ended up attending. It of course, stands for “Journalism School”. There are a couple in the country that are very well renown. Syracuse, Missouri, and Northwestern are probably the three most popular, though pretty much every college in the country offers a degree in journalism. And back when I was in school, and yes, I did take a few J-School classes, there was a very strict policy that you abided by. You never, EVER wanted to give up your credibility. To have a conflict of interest of any sort was instant death. You’d not only be fired from your job, you’d probably be black-balled in the industry, and most likely would end up writing columns for some weekly shopper rag that’s passed out for free.

My how times have changed.

No self respecting journalist would have ever stooped to the level that we’ve seen Chris Cuomo from CNN dive to. In case you’ve missed it, Cuomo, the younger brother to New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has been advising his older brother during his two scandals, the sexual abuse scandal he’s embroiled in, and more importantly, the nursing home death scandal that erupted during the COVID pandemic a year ago. First of all, you have to understand. Journalists are there to COVER the story, not become the story. Chris Cuomo forgot about that. Second, they should not allow their personal beliefs and prejudices to get in the way of the facts. They aren’t supposed to “spin” the story, they are supposed to report the story. And they are supposed to present only facts that have been checked and re-checked, through multiple sources.

Chris Cuomo has failed on all accounts.

He got embroiled in his brother’s scandals almost from the beginning. That should have been enough for CNN to fire him right then and there. It became obvious very early on that Cuomo could not remain unbiased when dealing with his brother’s trials and tribulations. But CNN decided to turn the other cheek and ignore it. They forbid Cuomo to be involved in any story regarding Andrew, but never took him off the air, which any self-respecting news outlet would have done immediately.

Cuomo’s response to all of this? Well, it came out recently that not only has he been biased toward his brother, something I think we call could excuse him for, but he had been advising him on how to handle all of the negative news. He should have distanced himself from his brother’s problems and not had any contact. Instead, he was talking to him several times a day. And he was keeping his prime time show on CNN every night. But Cuomo told the world that he had a responsibility to his family and that came first. I’m fine with that. But a journalist, like everyone else, cannot serve two masters. His job’s master isn’t CNN, it’s you and me and anyone that watches CNN and expects fair coverage of the day’s events. If you can’t be unbiased with your family, you have to give up the show. Cuomo failed on that account.

Like Brian Williams, Dan Rather, and a host of other “journalists” who either made up stories, edited stories to spin them a certain way, or displayed immense bias, Cuomo needs to go. If CNN doesn’t have the balls to fire him outright, it’s up to America to do the job for them. That’s done by not watching him. Low ratings are always a killer in TV news. And no one, not even Christ Cuomo is above that tenet.

Carry on world…you’re dismissed!

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