The Drama At CNN Involving Allison Gollust And Andrew Cuomo Just Got Messier
Internal drama within CNN has heated up this week as it was announced that former senior executive and marketing officer, Allison Gollust, has resigned. This happened after an internal investigation that, according to The New York Times, found that Gollust was in talks with former New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, before his March 2020 appearance on CNN and that Gollust passed along approved conversation topics to producers.
While this may seem like standard pre-interview procedure, the NY Times points out that it's "unusual" for someone at Gollust's level to get involved. CNN also claims to be "the most trusted name in news," but working so closely with the former Democratic governor is another example for critics to use against the media company as there are those who claim that top executives at CNN have close ties to prominent Democratic politicians.
Another example is of former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who was fired in December 2021 for helping his brother, Andrew, deal with allegation of sexual misconduct (via NPR). The younger brother even tweeted an official statement after his firing, admitting to helping his brother. "This is not how I want my time at CNN to end, but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother," the former anchor wrote. It was later revealed that Chris was also facing his own allegation of sexual misconduct, which just adds to the layers of the CNN drama.
Is CNN's journalistic integrity being questioned?
Chris Cuomo isn't the only person with ties to former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. Allison Gollust had previously worked for Governor Cuomo between 2012 and 2013, which is why the messages and communication between the two prior to Cuomo's interview were cause for concern (via The New York Times). There was also a "trove" of other message between the two that were discovered during the internal investigation into Gollust, which resulted in her resignation.
When it was announced to CNN employees that Gollust had resigned, according to CNN, Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, sent out a memo which revealed that Gollust, Chris Cuomo, and former CNN president Jeff Zucker were all in violation of "company policies, including CNN's news standards and practices." It has also been revealed recently that Gollust and Zucker were dating without disclosing their relation to CNN's human resources, and that Zucker was also aware of Gollust's communication with the former governor (via The Daily Beast).
What makes all of this news seem messier is that CNN has consistently accused Fox News of not having journalistic integrity and often criticizes the company of their close ties with Republican politicians, like Donald Trump. This internal investigation just adds fuel to the bipartisan debate.