COVID-19 with the Cuomo’s
When the world heard that Chris Cuomo tested positive for COVID-19, I can imagine the world was shocked. How could Chris get it? Will he continue to do his daily CNN broadcast, or will he take time off to fight off the virus? Being the strong man he is, Chris stated that he would continue to do his CNN segment “Cuomo Prime Time” at home while battling COVID-19. Chris rapidly became the face of the illness and gave the viewers an inside scoop on COVID-19, his symptoms, challenges and overall well-being while in quarantine (Lauricella, 2020).
While Chris was sharing his experience with the virus, he did many interviews and segments with his older brother Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York. Their brotherly love and sibling rivalry was loved among millions of people watching Chris’ broadcast from his basement while also discussing COVID-19 public safety regimes (Lauricella, 2020). Although many people enjoyed seeing Chris and Andrew week after week, many people were not so enthused with their brotherly bromance. Journalism is all about informing people about the world’s issues, and in this particular case, COVID-19 was all any news outlet was covering. Why would anyone be questioning the Cuomo brothers as they were informing the people about what is going on in the world?
Was Chris right to broadcast his experience with COVID-19 along with his brother Andrew? Yes, he was. I believe that Chris was doing a service towards the American people by continuing to do “Cuomo Prime Time” from his basement while actively battling COVID-19. According to Pech & Leibel (2006), caring for another person requires people to understand the reality of what someone else is going through, and that is exactly what the Cuomo brothers were doing. Chris was caring for the American people, along with the millions of other people wondering about the effects of COVID-19 by continuing his CNN broadcast while also adding a lot of humour to the situation with Andrew. Chris claiming his superiority on the basketball court and Andrew jokingly stating that he is the favourite child (Lauricella, 2020), while also informing and resonating with America and the world amid the virus, made it easy for others to relate to the brothers on a whole new level.
References
Lauricella, S. (2020). Pandemic prime time for the Cuomo brothers: Ethics, objectivity, and relationships in journalism. Media Ethics Initiative. https://mediaengagement.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/80-Brothers-in-News-Case-Study.pdf
Pech, G. & Leibel, R. (2006). Writing in solidarity: Toward an ethic of care for Journalism. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 21(2&3), 141–155.
