CNN has sustained heavy criticism after it focused its coverage Saturday evening on the White House Correspondents' Dinner while glossing over the ongoing protests on the streets of Baltimore over the death of a young black man at the hands of the police.
On Monday, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart dedicated two segments of his show to bashing the cable news network's programming decisions.
"Once again, Washington's best and brightest stayed home as the rest of Washington got together to walk the red carpet and dish about the red carpet walk in their finest evening wear," Stewart said of the
star-studded event in the nation's capital.
"But here is the problem: While the A-list of America's media-political complex fiddled on this Saturday night … this happened: The protests in Baltimore over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray erupted into violent clashes between police and demonstrators.
"Of course, CNN's in-studio team covering the WHCD acknowledged the protests, with one panelist noting how 'everyone is wining and dining and this is happening 50, 60 miles away,' and another saying how 'important' the conversation was. Yet, within seconds, the CNN host said, 'I do want to get to the red carpet.'"
"It's one thing to say, 'Oh, that's terrible. We should be doing that,' and then go do it," Stewart said.
"But to say it's terrible, we should do it, and not do it — it's sort of like standing in the middle of the street going, 'Oh, people are saying I shouldn't be masturbating in the street, but, you know ...'"
He noted that CNN got "shamed on Twitter" by people who were equally preoccupied with trivial pop culture news.
In his
second segment, Stewart lambasted the network for failing to adequately cover the scholarship winners who were who were meant to be a principle focus of the event.
"Look, CNN, if you're going to ignore major events to put on bow ties and blow yourselves, then fine, do it, you're consenting adults. But don't use that scholarship thing to clean yourselves up afterwards. All we ask is that you be honest about what you do."
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