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Jon Stewart Chides Cable News Channels For Dumbing Down Serious Election Coverage

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By WALT BELCHER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 29, 2008

I've been watching Jon Stewart skewer coverage of the Democratic National Convention, and it's easy to understand why he has become more popular than any real TV news anchor.

A professional comic, he doesn't take himself seriously, and he has a healthy skepticism about all politicians and all politics. That should be the cornerstone of sound journalism for all reporters who cover the federal government.

Stewart also doesn't make enemies because he doesn't dig too deeply into issues. And he's not mean-spirited, so he's not offending the right or the left.

Through Stewart's well-aimed barbs on Comedy Central's "Daily Show," you can see how the other electronic media are dumbing down serious debate in this country. He's right when he notes that the 24-hour cable news operations, which have an overabundance of pundits, have reduced the election process to petty partisan bickering.

This week, Stewart held court in Denver with two dozen print journalists and ripped into the cable news networks for being little more than "gerbil wheels" that spin news and chase after meaningless stories. He chided reporters for letting the cable news set the agenda by creating a "false sense of urgency." He said too many "follow the veins that have been mined" instead of pursuing in-depth reporting.

One of the examples Stewart cited was coverage of a Barack Obama visit to a bowling alley during the Pennsylvania Democratic primary where the Illinois senator bowled a miserable 38. That low score got more coverage than any of Obama's platform positions and some other more serious news that week. It led to numerous commentaries including MSNBC's resident conservative Joe Scarborough suggesting a low bowling score indicates a lack of manhood.

Stewart said politicians have become "animatronic" because the "humanity has been managed out of campaigns."

He said that when he hears talk about Obama being an elitist or John McCain having seven houses, he recalls Franklin D. Roosevelt (who became one of America's most popular presidents). He said that by today's TV pundit standards, "nobody would have wanted to have a beer with him."

"He's an elitist," he joked. "Can he bowl? I just find it stunning as to where this election is going to be decided."

He also heaped damning praise on Fox News Channel, which he called "an appendage of the Republican Party."

"I think Fox does the best job probably because they have an idea what they're doing," he said. "Because they have an editorial perspective, they're able to focus it more. So it's more cohesive and it makes more sense."

He said the "fair and balanced" line is "brilliant" and the biggest slap in the face to people with brains. "Chris Wallace is the only thing that saves that network from literally just slapping a bumper sticker on your television set."

VIDBITS: Former Brandon resident Mark Consuelos (hubby of Kelly Ripa) stars in "For the Love of Grace," a new Hallmark Channel movie debuting at 9 p.m. Saturday. He plays a heroic firefighter who loses his wife in a car accident and then finds hope after saving a woman from an apartment fire.

•Fox's "Prison Break" returns for a fourth season at 8 p.m. Monday. This season, the challenge for stoic hero Michael (Wentworth Miller) will be to break into a prison. Check out

TBOextra.com for details.

•WMOR, Channel 32, is saying goodbye to "Cheers" and hello to a new on-air logo on Sunday. After a marathon of episodes that begins at noon, the "Cheers" reruns will be retired. WMOR also is dropping it's "More TV" slogan for "TV 32" and a snappy new on-air look.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

15 Most Shocking Political Sex Scandals, 8 p.m., E!

Let's see, there are Bill and Monica, John and Rielle, Gary and Donna and so many, many more.

Grizzly Man Diaries, 9 p.m., Animal Planet

This new documentary profiles amateur naturalist Timothy Treadwell, who lived with grizzly bears and eventually was killed by one.

Tribune wires were used in this report.

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