Drew Holden puts together a side-by-side thread of press coverage of Andrew Cuomo and 'Man of the Year' Ron DeSantis

Gov. Andrew Cuomo may have won an International Emmy Award for his daily coronavirus briefings, but Drew Holden and Brady Leonard are calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis man of the year for his leadership in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re all pretty sick of hearing about Cuomo’s brilliant response to the coronavirus (which was to write a book); there was even talk during the Democratic primaries that Joe Biden should have been swapped out for Cuomo.

As for DeSantis, the media coverage hasn’t been so kind, although we’ve had a couple of threads on people remarking how nice it is that Florida is open and downright normal. Holden has put together another of his receipt-laden threads comparing the media’s treatment of Cuomo and DeSantis: It’s long but well worth it.

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Today @bradyleonard & I agreed the 2020 man of the year is @RonDeSantisFL for his leadership in response to COVID, despite endless attacks from the media.

To add some context, I’ve put those attacks side by side with coverage of @NYGovCuomo.

Spot the difference??

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

As of today, NY’s deaths per 100k from coronavirus (188) is about double Florida’s (96). Florida and Gov. DeSantis seem to be doing something right in that regard.

But you would have no idea that was the case if you spend your days listening/watching/reading @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/IZlUQ31y6R

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

The worst offender had to be @CNN, which is no surprise given Cuomo’s brother works there.

But I mean. Cmon guys. This is egregious. pic.twitter.com/LZU7oJaVgl

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Also very interesting the ways that @CNN chooses to humanize (or not) each governor’s response. pic.twitter.com/csO9Nxuxvh

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I’ll pause here to drive the point home: by the most critical metric, deaths per capita, DeSantis has outperformed Cuomo enormously. Cuomo’s led one of the most disastrous crisis responses in US history.

If NY were a country it’d have the highest death per capita IN THE WORLD.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Here’s @Slate – God bless them – who compared the governors they thought did the best and worst.

I think the headlines say it all. pic.twitter.com/iQPsa6MQYe

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@CNBC found a way to shoehorn in criticism of DeSantis in their reporting of a separate issue.

For Cuomo, they’ve got a nonstop feed for his pressers (this was just a small sample of all of the tweets). pic.twitter.com/r3mDhVYrtc

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

About two-thirds of these comments started out as just “oh ffs” and this one from @DEADLINE sums up why. pic.twitter.com/jv2nxuKCe3

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I wonder if @Salon will revisit this first piece, because that Florida model was revised shortly thereafter and eventually proved entirely inaccurate.

Cuomo, on the other hand, gets elevated to some sort of religious icon. pic.twitter.com/aGh91vc8re

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@RollingStone has gone from a reputable national outlet to a low-budget political operation in record time. More on this first line of attack later. pic.twitter.com/NjCdTUyjHj

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

I can always count on @VanityFair to act in bad faith. pic.twitter.com/1Vjg31Mzer

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Speaking of bad faith, the podcast bros over at @crookedmedia are doing more of the same. pic.twitter.com/khwOuLNzOD

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

@HuffPost really working overtime here huh.

For context, of the 300,000 people who have died from coronavirus, fewer than 600 of them are under 25. pic.twitter.com/1XdqmixuG4

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And overseas media got involved too. Here’s @guardian with a side by side that brings home the difference in perception among our moral betters in the media.

Again, Cuomo has presided over a deaths per capita rate that’s almost double! pic.twitter.com/mCR9KL3gRN

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And speaking of double, we’ll double up, because @guardian had a lot of material to work with.

I mean. Cmon. pic.twitter.com/pROXY613Ia

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

A little bit of a different focus here wouldn’t you say, @BBCNews? Especially considering that, by any objective measure, New York was hit far worse? pic.twitter.com/okl2ISXeC1

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

You may’ve thought that surely this is mostly a US phenomenon, but along with BBC and the Guardian, @Independent is here to remind you that that simply isn’t the case. pic.twitter.com/ROhsllU01r

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

As I’ve said before, there are lots of factors to consider when determining which responses were appropriate.

But if journalism is to be the first draft of history, we’ve got ourselves a miserably unfair draft to work with because countless outlets have operated in bad faith.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And that means that millions of Americans who have lost loved ones because of the terrible response from @NYGovCuomo won’t get justice or accountability because the media spends all their time attacking governors they don’t like since they’re Republicans.

And that’s shameful.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Part of the problem is that there simply isn’t enough attention paid to how horrible Cuomo has been. @JaniceDean has probably been the loudest, most consistent voice. She’s done more to highlight his near-criminal antics than any mainstream media outlet.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

If you aren’t familiar with her story and her quest for accountability, Dean was on @megynkelly’s show to talk about her personal experience and Cuomo’s failures. It’s well worth your time to give it a listen. https://t.co/olyHmelVE3

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

And if you haven’t read it, @StuDoesAmerica has a great piece in the NY Post that breaks down the chronology, lies, and failures of Cuomo. I can’t recommend it highly enough. https://t.co/uehhz5nUOf

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

As I’m sure most of you guys know, I do these threads often, and they can be both dispiriting and numbing.

But the way that the media has talked about Cuomo is galling and shameful and I still have confidence that, one day, there’ll be accountability.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

We wish we had the same confidence, but we’ve seen no accountability: The task force Cuomo put together to investigate nursing home deaths cleared him of any responsibility.

There’s a lot that I hope for in post-Trump politics and out of a post-2020 GOP.

Media accountability is high up on that list. If we can’t all get a fair set of facts to work with, we can’t hope for a healthy body politic.

We can’t have that with the media we have now.

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) December 31, 2020

Related:

Documentary film maker attempts a dunk on Florida’s governor but gets stymied by factshttps://t.co/V7kFCsxhKu pic.twitter.com/aryjwaMmlb

— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 29, 2020