Jon Stewart continued his mockery of CNN's Boston bombings coverage, noting that the network's reporters kept resorting to saying they didn't know what was going on during the hours they covered the search for the second suspect.
It was kind of like shooting fish in a barrel: Of course people on camera for hours are going to occasionally say things that look silly later on, when all the facts are in. Still, Stewart said, CNN's we-don't-know approach was an improvement over last Wednesday's, when the network — as well as Fox News, the Associated Press and the Boston Globe wrongly reported that there had been an arrest or one was imminent.
"It's a much more responsible way of broadcasting than your usual, 'Say it first and have Anderson Cooper correct it later,'" Stewart said on Monday's "Daily Show," his first since the manhunt and arrest Friday.
Stewart also praised NBC's coverage. And he called out the New York Post and its owner, "accuracy afficionado Rupert Murdoch," for not apologizing after the paper put two innocent men on its cover last week with the headline "Bag Men," insinuating their possible involvement in the bombings. Stewart wondered if Murdoch had had "all of Hitler's internal organs" transplated into his body.
But Stewart clearly holds CNN to a higher standard, and particularly mocked the network for reporting on the barking of bomb-sniffing dogs. Stewart noted that he has a dog himself: "You can't always read a lot into what they do, news-wise."
He concluded with a clip of an unfortunate metaphor by a CNN reporter in the field — and hope for the future.
"It was a noble effort," he told the network. "Keep going. It'll get better."
CNN has defended its coverage, saying it acknowledged its error Wednesday quickly. On Friday, before the arrest, CNN head Jeff Zucker said the networks had thrived in a trying week.
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