We may have found a new candidate to occupy the bottom story of the day, which features the collateral damage associated with Andrew M. Cuomo's COVID nursing home deaths scandals. Technically, this story qualifies for that status because it tangentally involves former CNN presenter Chris Cuomo, who any story about automatically qualifies as the bottom story of the day.
- CNN boss Jeff Zucker resigns, says he failed to disclose office relationship with former Andrew Cuomo aide
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This article reveals that Allison Gollust, the CNN marketing executive who was secretly involved in a relationship with CNN CEO Jeff Zucker that is the stated reason for Zucker's announced resignation today, is a member of Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network.
CNN President Jeff Zucker resigned Wednesday for failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a high-ranking colleague who once served as communications director to ex-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Zucker, 56, in a memo sent to staff said that he should have admitted to that relationship with CNN executive Allison Gollust when he was asked about it during a recent probe by the network of Chris Cuomo, who at the time was a host of a prime-time show there.
Chris Cuomo was fired in early December after CNN said it had obtained new information about his controversial role in advising his brother Andrew during a sexual harassment scandal, which itself had ultimately led to the governor’s resignation last summer.
“As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,” Zucker said.
The other noteworthy item from this report is that Gollust is being allowed to remain in her position, despite also being an executive who would be expected to be held to the same standards as CEO Zucker. The next story we're featuring in this entry focuses on the reaction of CNN's staff to that development:
- Female CNN staff furious Allison Gollust still has a job after Jeff Zucker affair
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This report picks up on the disparate treatment in standards to which CNN executive Allison Gollust is not being held to that the news network's just-resigned CEO Jeff Zucker apparently is. Here's the introduction:
Female employees at CNN are furious that chief spokesperson Allison Gollust is keeping her job after “lying” about her affair with newly resigned CEO Jeff Zucker “for years,” sources told The Post.
“Why is she allowed to keep her job?” a CNN insider railed.
“CNN is supposed to be a transparent news network. How does she get away with lying about their affair for so long?”
Early Wednesday, Zucker sent a memo to colleagues announcing he’d be retiring after his relationship with Gollust came to light during CNN’s probe into Chris Cuomo. He called the relationship “consensual” and told staff that he wished he’d disclosed it sooner.
Why that's strange is because both Gollust and Zucker have been serving as executives at CNN. It would be highly unusual for the network to maintain one set of standards to which it is willing to hold its CEO accountable that is not being held to other executives engaged in the identical behavior, which is directly applicable in this situation.
As a member of Andrew M. Cuomo's influence network, we view Gollust as one of the managers and editors at CNN whose desks need to be cleared out as an essential step to restoring the news network's journalistic credibility.
