Major news networks largely ignored a New York attorney general report suggesting that the state underreported nursing home deaths by as much as 50%.
ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC dedicated about 10 minutes of coverage combined to the report released by Attorney General Letitia James Thursday showing the nursing home reporting discrepancy, according to Fox News.
CNN, a 24-hour news network, dedicated just over eight minutes to the story, covering it on two different programs, while MSNBC spent less than three minutes on it during the course of the day’s 13 hours of news programming.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” completely ignored the story, and “CBS Evening News” dedicated just 10 seconds of coverage without mentioning New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by name.
ABC’s “Good Morning America” didn’t mention Cuomo’s name either on Friday morning.
Cuomo has been widely panned, mostly on social media, since issuing a directive in March requiring nursing homes to accept coronavirus patients. It has been reported that at least 11,000 people may have died as a result of that directive.
The governor pushed back against criticism he has received this week, blaming “incompetent government” for the roughly 43,000 coronavirus deaths in the state and claiming that nursing home infections spread via asymptomatic staffers.
New York has suffered the highest number of coronavirus deaths of any state during the pandemic, and New York City has suffered the most deaths among all major U.S. cities.
