It hasn’t been a banner week for left-wing cable news networks.
Days after embarrassing allegations forced Chris Cuomo off the air at CNN, rival network MSNBC was busted in a Cuomo scandal of its own.
At the center of both: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, who ultimately resigned in disgrace amid multiple investigations.
Documents released this week by investigators in New York revealed that Chris Cuomo was working his sources behind the scenes to help his brother’s defense from the harassment allegations.
Now, those same documents show that another member of Team Cuomo boasted that a key personality on MSNBC was repeating spoon-fed talking points from political operatives.
“I’m texting w/Katy Tur,” Democratic strategist Lis Smith bragged in a message to Andrew Cuomo’s aides. “Katy is saying my talking points… like verbatim on CNN.”
That last bit was an error; Tur wasn’t on CNN but rather works for MSNBC.
Then again, critics on the right have argued there’s little difference between the two liberal cable networks.
Smith was working to help Andrew Cuomo as he battled multiple allegations of sexual harassment, the scandal that would ultimately force him to resign (he was also caught up in allegations his administration tried to cover up coronavirus deaths in nursing homes).
According to Fox News, Tur at the time had been covering a news conference in which the then-governor apologized, but insisted he did nothing wrong.
Cuomo’s camp had crafted a bizarre defense in which his history of touching, hugging and kissing women was explained as nothing more than ordinary affection.
Even many on the left didn’t buy it.
In fact, many were enraged by it – and that pressure from his own side of the aisle may be what ultimately forced Cuomo to resign.
But Defector spotted the moment Tur appeared only too happy to parrot those talking points:
I’ve just been talking to somebody who is close to the family and I asked them, given the moment that we have been living in for the past two years, given how everyone has had a reckoning with this MeToo moment, why would somebody like Governor Andrew Cuomo who is a savvy politician not have buttoned things up, not have gotten the message to be careful about what he said around his staffers, around others. And the person said it’s not that he didn’t think the rules didn’t apply to him, it’s just that’s in the Cuomo DNA. They are extraordinarily friendly, I guess, by nature.
https://twitter.com/laurawags/status/1465809435310366724
Fox News said Tur was “sounding rueful and even sighing slightly at the end of her statement,” indicating a certain degree of skepticism.
But those nuances would likely be lost on most viewers.
And describing the source as “somebody who is close to the family” makes it sound like a longtime friend with insider info… not a seasoned political operative delivering talking points crafted in the Cuomo spin zone.
There’s no word yet if Tur is facing any kind of discipline for repeating campaign operative spin as reporting from a “source.”
Cuomo, who is facing far more serious allegations, is currently off the air – although CNN’s Brian Stelter said he could be back on TV in January, essentially turning his suspension into an extended holiday vacation.
The latest revelations will come as no surprise to the critics of both networks.
Already, MSNBC is often mocked as “MSDNC,” as in the Democratic National Committee. CNN – once slammed as the Clinton News Network – has more lately been derided as the Cuomo News Network.
Now, the behind-the-scenes revelations show those aren’t just insults from critics… but the everyday reality at CNN and MSNBC.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert.