Credit Where Due

I've just finished watching The Daily Show, mainly because there wasn't anything else on at ten in the morning. Jon Stewart did a short segment about CNN. He noted that that Costas guy who's filling in for Larry King declined to do an hour special in Aruba on Natalie Holloway. The president of CNN defended Costas, criticizing Fox News and claiming that if Fox wasn't covering Natalie Holloway on a day when fourteen American troops died in Iraq, they could have covered something more than "meaningless nonsense".*

Stewart went on to introduce a montage of CNN segments, which included but were not limited to:

A Larry King interview with Pamela Anderson

A segment about whether or not it's acceptable to insult ugly animals

A segment about how doling out soft ice cream from a truck is "hard work"

Various other clips introducing segments with little or no substance or importance

Jon Stewart then went on to mock CNN's slogan: "This is CNN?"

Also, the special guest was former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, whose comments about Strom Thurmond were taken out of context a couple of years ago, eventually forcing him to apologize needlessly for his allegedly "racist" comments (that weren't the least bit racist in the first place) and resign from his post as Senate Majority Leader. Anyway, though, I'll give Stewart credit for having him on, and for not being a total jerk.

I report, you decide. Fair and balanced coverage, that's Thus Saith the Fly.

* I've made my feelings about the overly extensive coverage of the Natalee Holloway disappearance very clear, and I tend to side with that Costas guy; one girl disappearing is not news, it does not necessitate anywhere near the news coverage it's received. Even so, I think it was in extremely poor taste for the president of CNN to refer to Natalee Holloway's disappearance as "meaningless nonsense".