CNN exec out for letting Gov. Cuomo pick interview topics

On a Saturday in March 2020, as COVID-19 was invading the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on CNN for a live interview. Among other topics, he was asked about a possible government-enforced quarantine of New York that had been floated by President Donald Trump.

It was a newsworthy topic, but its path onto viewers’ screens would turn out to be controversial — and highly consequential for the future of one of the world’s most powerful news networks.

Before the interview, Cuomo had told a senior CNN executive, Allison Gollust, about subjects that he’d like to be asked about on air, according to several people familiar with the matter. Gollust, CNN’s longtime chief of communications and marketing and a former top aide of the governor, passed along the topics to CNN producers and then reported back to the governor.

“Done,” she wrote. On Tuesday, Gollust was forced to resign after an internal investigation found a trove of written communications between her and Cuomo, including messages about the March 2020 appearance, the people said. Jeff Zucker, who at the time was CNN’s president, was aware of communications between Gollust and the governor, the people said.

Risa Heller, a spokesperson for Gollust, said the communications with the governor were appropriate. Gollust “in no way suggested that inclusion of these topics was a condition of the interview, nor did she suggest the interview should be limited to these subjects,” Heller said.

She added: “WarnerMedia relying on this everyday practice as justification for dismissing Allison demonstrates how ignorant they are of journalistic practices, and further proves that her dismissal is nothing more than retaliation.”

CNN, whose slogan is “the most trusted name in news,” is facing questions about how its senior executives and its top-rated anchor — Chris Cuomo, the governor’s younger brother — steered coverage of Andrew Cuomo.

In a memo to employees this week, Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company, wrote that Gollust was resigning after the internal investigation found unspecified “violations of company policies, including CNN’s news standards and practices,” by her, Zucker

and Chris Cuomo.