Is CNN a fount of journalist corruption? Right after the cable broadcaster fired its star journalist, Chris Cuomo for collaborating with his brother in a bid to fend off sex harassment charges, it now comes to light that CNN's Don Lemon was essentially caught doing the same thing.   

According to the Washington Examiner:

Following reports that Chris Cuomo helped his brother with his high-profile sexual harassment scandal, another one of CNN's prime-time anchors faces controversy.

Actor Jussie Smollett revealed during his testimony Monday that CNN anchor Don Lemon texted him during the early stages of the Chicago Police Department's investigation into his alleged hate crime hoax.

Smollett said Lemon texted him that the CPD did not believe Smollett's account of the incident, the New York Post reported . Lemon was relaying information he had gotten from sources in the CPD, according to the outlet.

So young Jussy, who was defending himself in court based on events dating to his phony hate crime, got a helpful hand from Lemon, who advised him which of his statements worked with the cops, and which didn't.

It's an outrageous break with newsroom ethics around the issue of conflicts of interest. Here Lemon was using his privileged position in the news to help a hate-crime suspect beat charges by giving him an advantage. His thumb on the scale of justice here amounted to a whopping conflict of interest.

CNN is about to be helmed with new ownership. Those new owners reportedly are interested in moving to a straight news format. Big heads have been slated to roll. Cuomo certainly was snared in conflict of interest tickets from cops until it came and bit him. Now there's Don Lemon. Are there no straight uncorrupted journalists left at that network?  

Image: Screen shot from Fox News broadcast, via shareable YouTube.

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