Let’s get after it. More than a week since the devastating sexual harassment report on the governor of New York, it’s amazing that Cuomo still has his job. Not Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned, but his brother Chris, the CNN anchor who advised Andrew on how to downplay the accusations.

  While working as the most-watched host on all of cable news, not just CNN, Chris Cuomo advised a major politician on how to handle a political and personal crisis. It’s a line no working journalist should cross and keep their job.

  Chris Cuomo was on a long list of people copied on emails advising his governor brother. Chris drafted a response for the governor that said, in part, “I now understand my interactions may have been insensitive or too personal and that some of my compliments, given my position, made others feel in ways I never intended.” Without being witness or party to any of the events, Chris suggested that the governor should say, “My only desire is to add some levity and banter to what is a very serious business.”

  That statement, written by the anchorman and taking the governor’s side, would also have played on his own network.

  Among other people on the distribution list were Linda Lacewell, the governor’s former chief of staff, Josh Vlasto, a former chief of staff who leaked files on one of the governor’s accusers, and Rich Bamberger, a former staffer now with the public relations firm Kivvit.

  The attorney general’s report on Gov. Cuomo concludes about the people involved was that they all had “a proven, personal loyalty to the Governor,” and that, “because they did not have any formal position within the Executive Chamber, they could not reasonably have been relied upon to protect its interests as an institution or the interest of its current and former employees.” Chris Cuomo was one of those people whose primary interest was loyalty.

  Chris should have stayed out of it and his brother should have protected him by refusing his help.

  Cuomo’s job as a journalist is to cover the news and give the public a full and open discussion of events. In this case, if the governor had not been his brother, his job would have been to air the accusations and the defense. He did neither and didn’t make it possible to be done on his show. 

  When the attorney general’s report was released, Chris Cuomo went on the air that night without mentioning the biggest story in the country because he couldn’t cover his own brother. It was as if the tree fell in the woods and didn’t make a noise. He didn’t have a guest host sit in for him that night or hand over part of his show to another host to cover the situation. His silence in the name of neutrality was as dishonest as being a part of the governor’s advisory team.

  Major figures in broadcast journalism have fallen for moral and ethical lapses; Matt Lauer and Bill O’Reilly for sexual harassment, Brian Williams for making up a war story. Dan Rather, once one of the biggest names in broadcast news, got fired for fumbling a story about President George W. Bush’s military service. What preserves journalism is not any of its individual stars but the principles of honesty, accuracy, and neutrality.  

  It’s known that some figures at Fox News have advised former President Trump. But Fox is not a news network and has stopped pretending to be one. Does CNN intend to do the same?

  CNN  has taken no public action against Chris Cuomo, demonstrating that ratings and profit are more important to the network than the reputation and credibility of all their reporters, not just Cuomo. No CNN reporter at the spear-carrier level would survive what Cuomo has been caught doing.

  Every big anchor is replaceable and forgettable for the larger reason of broadcast news to exist. The damage Cuomo has done is that he fed the right wing claim that mainstream journalists are just hacks for the Democratic, liberal, and progressive causes. It gives reason to Donald Trump’s unhinged claim that all news is “Fake News.”

 What Chris Cuomo did rightfully raises the question, “What else has he done?” even if this is his only ethical lapse. News and information without credibility is a world without gravity. 

  Cuomo has justified himself saying “Family first, job second.” It’s an honorable position but not one that can be held along with a job that requires complete political neutrality and the highest standards of moral and ethical behavior. There are no “family and friends” discounts in journalistic ethics.

  If Chris Cuomo really believes in family first, he needs to resign or CNN should fire him.