Jon Stewart went after the cable news networks, specifically CNN, for their coverage of the tragic Navy Yard shootings in Washington DC on Monday. He dubbed the coverage a “Wrongnado” or perfect storm of incorrect information.
To start off the night’s episode, he showed clips of pointless bickering on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News when there is no major story, but noted how their attention suddenly shifts when a major breaking event occurs, such as a shooting. “For every all too familiar American tragedy, you can be sure the news will exacerbate it with yet another Force 5 Wrongnado,” he said, notes The LA Times, pointing specifically at early reports that there were more than one shooter and reports that got the shooter’s name wrong.
Then, he specifically targeted CNN, which tried desperately to not get anything wrong after its incorrect Boston Marathon bombing reporting. Stewart showed clip after clip of CNN anchors noting that all speculation could be wrong, but they continued to do it anyway.
Stewart came to the conclusion that all this nonsense reporting is now a “feature” for CNN, not a bug, especially after he found a clip of CNN head Jeff Zucker talking about how ratings climbed on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing.
“The lesson they take from this is it doesn't matter how much they betray our trust, we'll keep coming back. We're in an abusive relationship with CNN!” Stewart told viewers.
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