THREAD

The walls are closing in on @NYGovCuomo. Last night, news broke that his office hid 9000 Covid patients sent back to nursing homes.

Why’d it take so long to come out? I’ve got a theory: The media wasn’t interested in accountability.

Don’t believe me? Take a look

Some context. @AP scooped that @NYGovCuomo & his admin had hidden the number of Covid patients his rules had returned to nursing homes - spreading the pandemic among the most vulnerable - to avoid DOJ scrutiny.

Nursing homes account for 1/3rd of ALL US deaths in the pandemic.

But you would have no idea that Cuomo was anything less than perfect if you spent your time watching @CNN.

It’s really hard to overstate not just the frequency of the coverage but it’s abject lack of anything that could be called honest journalism.

I mean. Look.

The outlet got their key voices involved in pushing the idea that Cuomo was an antidote to Trump.

The way that @brianstelter talked about @NYGovCuomo mirrors how Pravda writes about Putin.

I unfairly took a swing at @ChrisCillizza yesterday. That was out of line.

But on this one. Well. I think it’s a different story. Not sure these takes aged quite perfectly.

I couldn’t possibly do this thread without including his brother, @ChrisCuomo.

Brotherly affection is one thing. But the fact that @CNN used this is a front would’ve been journalistic malpractice if (Governor) Cuomo were in the right.

Safe to say, he wasn’t.

But it’s an understatement to say that they weren’t alone here. @MSNBC may have actually been even more egregious with their fawning coverage.

That includes their covering for him about the nursing home policy (check out the second screenshot).

I keep going through these trying to decide who within the media was the worst, most uncritical booster.

I have a hard time thinking it could be anyone other than @JoyAnnReid

I have such limited space in this thread - there are so many people who helped build this deliberately misleading narrative - but I can’t help but give @JoyAnnReid two entries because what she had to say was just that bad.

But the real problem wasn’t just MSNBC or CNN, it was that EVERY outlet was singing @NYGovCuomo’s praises without raising a critical question or objection.

Here’s @ABC with a few takes they’d probably like to have back.

And it wasn’t just broadcast journalism. Print outlets got into the act, too.

This first one, billed as straight reporting from @washingtonpost, can only rightly be called propaganda.

Also, @washingtonpost, what the hell was this?

I simply don’t have the space (or mental stamina) to get to everyone in media. But these two - from @NPR and @maddow - seem to sum up the sentiment well.

And @intelligencer and @therecount, too.

Plenty of outlets like @CNBC simply gave Cuomo the space to say whatever he wanted and look like some sort of tough guy hero.

Perhaps, in retrospect, it would’ve been valuable to ask whether Cuomo’s own behavior was “irresponsible” or “reckless”?

You may be wondering where @nytimes is in all this. And the truth is, their reporting on Cuomo has been really solid across the board.

Now, some of their opinion pieces on the other hand...less so. @maureendowd and @JenSeniorNY included.

Some of the, well, less rigorous outlets were far worse. Check out @BuzzFeed.

I had to see this, so now you have to, too.

The same holds true for @HuffPost.

And the blue checks. Ohhh boy. The blue checks.

There were a lot of bad takes, and a lot of really unforgivable flattery, but @ananavarro might just have led the pack. The second one is real rich, particularly in retrospect.

And thread favorite @CheriJacobus gets bonus points for keeping it weird I suppose?

But the worst of the Cuomo sycophants had to be @JRubinBlogger.

I just. I can’t even. I don’t know what to say about all this. Heaven help anyone who takes Rubin seriously as one who offers criticism.

This really hit all of the usual suspects. But of all of them, and from behind the block, @amy_siskind was the worst. I could’ve given her a thread all of her own. Here are just my favorites.

It’s important to call out that not everyone got this wrong. I mentioned NYTimes earlier, but there was also some really strong reporting from @propublica and @NewYorker.

As I hope is clear by now, that coverage was the minority.

The early days of the pandemic were difficult to say the least. No one had much of an idea what was going on or how best to address it.

But that should lead to more questions, not fewer, from the media. Instead we got puff pieces and endless praise, all while New Yorkers died.

The media serves an enormously important role in providing accountability. They failed when it comes to @NYGovCuomo’s handling of the coronavirus.

Who knows what mistakes could’ve been avoided, and how many lives could’ve been saved, if changes had come sooner?

I wish there was a good or happy way to button this all up. But there isn’t. All we can hope for now is that there’s accountability - from the DOJ or otherwise - into the decisions made.

And some real soul searching about what good, honest journalism is supposed to mean.

Have heard from some folks that this commentary unfairly leaves out local news, who dogged Cuomo. And that’s a fair criticism. The problem was very much with national media.

On the flip side, @ABC7NY did an excellent job. Here’s a couple examples.

@NY1 was dogged, particularly on the nursing home front. Here are just a few examples.

And these two weren’t alone. @CNYCentral, @The_Citizen and @siadvance did an excellent job too.

Both their attention and their reporting were things I overlooked, but shouldn’t have. That’s on me. Local news consistently does great and thankless work, this was a highlight of it.

Also, speaking of dogged, it’s important to point out the tireless work of @JaniceDean to help keep the attention on Cuomo, particularly at the national level.

And I should’ve included the great work that NY Post did in holding Cuomo’s feet to the fire, both from their reporters and from their editorial board. Here are just a couple of examples.

I should’ve framed the distinction in this better.

Some parts of national media - esp. mainstream outlets like CNN, WaPo, etc. - did an awful job.

Many NY outlets, including the Post, the Times & local papers - did an excellent job throughout the pandemic despite circumstances.

Sometimes folks will ask if they can support these threads. The short answer is that, while I appreciate the sentiment, local food banks have been decimated by Covid & deserve your help more than I do. If you’re in DC, check out Capitol Area Food Bank: https://www.capitalareafoodbank.org/donate/?sku=2020DVpaidsearch&gclid=CjwKCAiA65iBBhB-EiwAW253Wy_toDw1_5tLhfQtv1Ur4SovcJxZiqlqChjrKZiYAruMPFoWo6Sq7BoCudcQAvD_BwE

Also, in case you missed it, I did a thread about a month and a half ago comparing the coverage of Cuomo with @GovRonDeSantis.

Let’s just say it wasn’t exactly equal treatment. https://twitter.com/drewholden360/status/1344439480720252928

Some folks have asked about why I think the walls are closing in on Cuomo. To me, it’s that there are more and more mainstream outlets (including some who built Cuomo up) starting to join the chorus of criticism.

Both of these are from today.