A common and consistent through line for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s criticism of the press that covers him day to day is they don’t get out much.
Cuomo on Tuesday in an interview with WAMC noted when his father Mario Cuomo was governor, the reporters would travel with him. That changed when his successor, George Pataki, got rid of the plane.
“When he would travel – leave Albany, God forbid – the press would go with him. Why? Because there was a state plane called the G1, you’ll remember, with the turbo props that sat about I guess it was 30 people or so,” Cuomo said.
“And he would bring the press and the press would come to the event which changed coverage of state government dramatically because then it was not just about what was happening in the state Capitol and the Legislature and all the Capitol intrigue and policy intrigue and this Assemblyman, that Senator. It was flooding in Lake Ontario which is real life. It was MTA service which is real life. My father gets criticized in the campaign for use of the plane. George Pataki comes in and sells the plane, buys helicopters. Now the press can’t travel and the press remains in Albany.”
That’s led to a change in how state government can be covered.
“And I believe it’s been a subtle almost silly shift but it really has affected the coverage because I remember that press coming on the plane when the president goes somewhere the press goes, covers the event, and now the coverage has become Capitol-centric,” Cuomo said.
To be sure, it’s not just the lack of a multi-seat plane: Technology enables reporters to watch livestreams of the governor’s events around the state. Coverage footprints have broadened, so that tape shot in Rochester can be easily viewed in Albany or New York City.
There are not as many reporters covering the Capitol today, making a day-long trip outside of Albany difficult to justify if no story is filed.
Taste in political coverage, too, has changed: Readers, viewers, editors, enjoy the political intrigue stories.
And there’s a long-standing issue for reporters as well: Sometimes a public schedule update does not land in boxes for Albany-based journalists for, say, a Buffalo event with only a few hours notice.
Still, Cuomo is right about getting outside. It’s very easy to become cloistered in the state Capitol, fixated on issues that can effect only a handful of people. And, at the same time, it can create something of a feedback loop of advocates, lawmakers and reporters only talking to themselves. Voters and taxpayers, after all, are paying for a lot of what happens here. Sometimes it may helpful to find out what they think.
Cuomo on Tuesday in an interview with WAMC noted when his father Mario Cuomo was governor, the reporters would travel with him. That changed when his successor, George Pataki, got rid of the plane.
“When he would travel – leave Albany, God forbid – the press would go with him. Why? Because there was a state plane called the G1, you’ll remember, with the turbo props that sat about I guess it was 30 people or so,” Cuomo said.
“And he would bring the press and the press would come to the event which changed coverage of state government dramatically because then it was not just about what was happening in the state Capitol and the Legislature and all the Capitol intrigue and policy intrigue and this Assemblyman, that Senator. It was flooding in Lake Ontario which is real life. It was MTA service which is real life. My father gets criticized in the campaign for use of the plane. George Pataki comes in and sells the plane, buys helicopters. Now the press can’t travel and the press remains in Albany.”
That’s led to a change in how state government can be covered.
“And I believe it’s been a subtle almost silly shift but it really has affected the coverage because I remember that press coming on the plane when the president goes somewhere the press goes, covers the event, and now the coverage has become Capitol-centric,” Cuomo said.
To be sure, it’s not just the lack of a multi-seat plane: Technology enables reporters to watch livestreams of the governor’s events around the state. Coverage footprints have broadened, so that tape shot in Rochester can be easily viewed in Albany or New York City.
There are not as many reporters covering the Capitol today, making a day-long trip outside of Albany difficult to justify if no story is filed.
Taste in political coverage, too, has changed: Readers, viewers, editors, enjoy the political intrigue stories.
And there’s a long-standing issue for reporters as well: Sometimes a public schedule update does not land in boxes for Albany-based journalists for, say, a Buffalo event with only a few hours notice.
Still, Cuomo is right about getting outside. It’s very easy to become cloistered in the state Capitol, fixated on issues that can effect only a handful of people. And, at the same time, it can create something of a feedback loop of advocates, lawmakers and reporters only talking to themselves. Voters and taxpayers, after all, are paying for a lot of what happens here. Sometimes it may helpful to find out what they think.