“Past is prologue”: Chris Cuomo returns to TV news 10 months after being fired from CNN
Ex-star anchor switches to a network with a small portion of his prior viewership, so his arrival on NewsNation doesn’t exactly change the game.
Chris Cuomo enters his new position at the start-up cable network NewsNation, shouting, “Are you ready to change the game? “—more like a coach of a struggling minor league club than a news anchor. Okay, let’s get started.
Only 10 months have passed since Cuomo was sacked from CNN following revelations that he was supporting his disgraced brother, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, who was accused of sexual harassment. Cuomo denies the accusations. According to the investigation conducted by the New York attorney general’s office, Chris tried to learn more about his brother’s accusers by using his relationships in the media. These efforts violated journalistic standards and went well beyond what CNN management was aware of.
At the time of his firing, Cuomo’s show on CNN was the most popular, regularly drawing 2 million viewers a night. He had gained notoriety for his coronavirus reporting, which frequently involved lighthearted banter with his brother, who oversaw New York’s pandemic response.
Aiming to increase NewsNation’s average audience of 46,000, which is less than two years old and has a far smaller budget than its major cable competitor, is Cuomo. He has stated in interviews leading up to this debut that he chose NewsNation because he is eager to join a network in its infancy and get in on the ground floor. However, it’s more likely that it’s because no one else would hire him after he ruined his name as a journalist.
Cuomo nevertheless appears excited. On this show, standing is required, with eyes that beg you to pardon me fixed directly into the camera. Compared to his colleagues on cable news, Cuomo has always been a touch more bro-like, but today his pinstripe suit from game day barely covers his jockish frame. Your son is prepared to deliver the news! Let’s anchor, please!
How can cable news continue its operations while dealing with all of this? Cuomo launched right into his point: “Shakespeare wrote in the Tempest, that ‘the past is prologue,'” he declared, without a hint of sarcasm. “I’ve been made to feel humiliated by what happened, and I’m also itching to behave nicely in a way that I’ve never behaved before.”
That pretty about sums it up. There was no reference to the 11 women who came forward, including a staff member who claimed Andrew Cuomo touched her breasts and a state policeman who claimed he touched her when she was trying to defend him. Andrew Cuomo rejects these accusations. He and his brother were both sacked without explanation, and there was no admission that he had violated journalistic standards. Instead, he made an effort to highlight the benefits of his close relationship with his brother to his audience: “Most people in my business know politics from the outside, I know it from the inside… I’ve observed how political campaigns operate on the inside, as well as how the media and people in authority interact.
What did you anticipate, then? Cuomo has only ever been in two situations: angry, disappointed parent or locker room banter. Remorse has never been an option. He has admitted to lying to his employers and is suing CNN for $125 million for wrongful termination, yet neither of these things is brought up tonight.
Cuomo instead waxes lyrical for 15 minutes about the philosophy behind the new program. Avoiding partisanship, discovering the truth, and focusing on reasonableness rather than left versus right are the key concepts. However, this is not a fact-based, traditional newscast as had been implied. Cuomo expresses a lot of fervent opinions, many of which are in line with big-D Democratic ideals. He criticizes the GOP for failing to enact a measure that would have provided resources to students experiencing emotional distress in schools, the big colleges for charging exorbitant tuition, and Susan Collins for failing to stand up for democracy. He also criticizes the media for neglecting to cover the Iranian protests.
He clearly demands ranked choice voting, term limits for members of Congress, increased legal immigration to fill open positions and restrictions on assault weapons. The first episode of Cuomo sounded a lot like it could have been on MSNBC, despite the host’s assurance that he was prepared to fulfill his promise to the silent majority.
After all that monologuing, a respectable, well-delivered, and rather dull news program with erratic imperialist agitprop was introduced. He said that Ukraine’s objectives were “insanely American” and compared their struggle to the Revolutionary War in an otherwise uninspiring part, as though his audience could only support them in this way. Republicans William Cohen, Clinton’s defense secretary, and John Bolton, Trump’s security adviser, were his two guests. They both made the usual remarks about how Putin was evil and how America needed to step in.
After all that monologuing, a respectable, well-delivered, and rather dull news program with erratic imperialist agitprop was introduced. He said that Ukraine’s objectives were “insanely American” and compared their struggle to the Revolutionary War in an otherwise uninspiring part, as though his audience could only support them in this way. Republicans William Cohen, Clinton’s defense secretary, and John Bolton, Trump’s security adviser, were his two guests. They both made the usual remarks about how Putin was evil and how America needed to step in.