Jon Stewart: CNN's Coverage Of Whitney Houston Death Was 'Not Right' (VIDEO)

Jon Stewart lampooned CNN's coverage of Whitney Houston's death on his Monday night show.

The pop legend died unexpectedly on Saturday. On Monday, Stewart said that he would not be dwelling on the news because the show could not cover it with the "right authority, class and grace" that it deserved. "But you know what's interesting?" he added. "Neither could CNN."

He replayed clips of a CNN reporter breaking the news of Houston's passing to people on the streets and capturing their reactions on camera. "You can't just wander the streets with a camera crew surprising people who don't know someone famous has died!" he shouted.

"I thought the whole point of broadcasting your signal... is that you don't have to go with the news door-to-door, town crier style," he pointed out. He compared CNN's approach to way "they pass out nail salon coupons" in Times Square and "Candid Camera."

"That's not right," he said.

Comments

[Acsecnarf]

11:04 PM on 02/21/2012

MOVE ON PEOPLE! Whitney wasted what could have been a wonderful life. She's a dope. Wait, make that a DOPER. She played with fire and got burned. There are many more people on this earth deserving of your attention, she is not woth the effort to 'look back' and pretend she was some kind of godess.

[Acsecnarf]

10:59 PM on 02/21/2012

Enough of "saint whitney" already!!! She was a spoiled, entitled, privledged brat. She enjoyed all kinds of opportunity to sell her gifted voice. She died of an overdose. It's so predictable, it's not 'tragic', it's not surprising, it's not even news. Move on, surely there is REAL news somehwere in the world? !!

[JTWallace]

12:27 PM on 02/16/2012

SHE WAS A FREAKIN' ENTERTAINER! Who cares who says what? She wasn't important enough to merit being called a ''genius'' as some of the hacks in media are now calling her. She was a drug addict who used to sing and act. She killed herself. So, how does that merit ''careful handling''. Do people just not have anything important in their life that the handling by media of a drug death should be handled with grace and class? In the end, she died not from grace and class. She never had it.

[Oakland Seligson]

05:07 PM on 02/18/2012

SHUT UP.

[JTWallace]

11:12 AM on 02/16/2012

She was an entertainer! She was an addict! But, flags at half mast? What is that all about?

[AnnfromCA]

09:24 AM on 02/16/2012

He's right.  CNN is awful about doing that type of cruddy reporting.

[stevenurke]

08:11 AM on 02/16/2012

When is this ignoramus not outraged? I know, when he reviews democratic politician charitable contributions! They likely equal his - $400 a year.

[Daisy Sharp]

11:32 AM on 02/16/2012

Uh, this makes no sense. Please review your posts before hitting send. Thank you.

[cindell]

05:54 AM on 02/16/2012

It used to be..that no matter what happened in the world..at 9 P.M., you knew you could turn on Larry King and he would have a panel of guests assembled that could tell you what in the sam hill was going on...right? Now there is Piers what's his name (which I will not watch because he doesn't let people speak..he likes to do all the talking) and I miss Larry King with his panel of people. CNN sucks.

[rationalthought1]

10:29 PM on 02/15/2012

CNN is determined to win the race to the bottom - still, FOX "news" has such a head start that I don't know if it's possible to beat them there. I guess CNN sees celebrity gossip and death as their ticket to ride - to me it's just one more reason to change the channel.

[raker]

08:58 PM on 02/15/2012

Going up to people on the street to get their shocked reactions to "Whitney Houston's dead" is not "covering" a story.

There are so many loathsome media outfits—come to think of it, most of them are loathsome, but CNN is the worst by a mile.

[the grange gorman]

07:49 AM on 02/16/2012

Fox is worse , or do they not count as news , they shouldnt really

[stevenurke]

09:15 AM on 02/16/2012

You can have PMSNBC

[raker]

10:35 AM on 02/16/2012

Fox News is not news, and it is obviously bad by any measure, but I think CNN is worse because they still get away with pretending to be a serious news outfit.

[stevestrange]

07:16 PM on 02/15/2012

CNN is God-awful these days...They really need to rethink what it is they're doing as a "news" network.

[bhaines213]

06:31 PM on 02/15/2012

Maybe CNN needs to bring back Ted Turner as a consultant. There might be hope for them if they get back to their roots of reporting actual news. They need an intervention because I don’t think they can find their way back on their own.

[cohoes42072]

03:50 PM on 02/15/2012

Stewart's complaint with the news, is that it really isn't news. CNN's 'stunt' wasn't reporting, it was shock-value journalism. It also makes me wonder who would watch CNN to see other people's "OMG" reaction to Houston's death.

Yesterday, he did a highlight of Time Magazine covers, what is published here in the U.S. and what is published overseas. We're being dumbed down as a society.

[veggieone]

08:18 PM on 02/15/2012

'We're being dumbed down as a society.' Its really working too!!

[Thewriter123]

02:54 PM on 02/15/2012

Jon Stewart CRITICIZED someone elses actions!?! Wow, never heard of such an event before.

[pezdrake]

04:07 PM on 02/15/2012

Yeah who ever heard of a comedian making fun of other people?

[B from B]

02:13 PM on 02/15/2012

So what would be the "right" or "correct" way to report the story (that is, what 'to do', rather than what 'not to do')(and the reason why it would be considered the "right" or "correct" way)?

[stevestrange]

07:12 PM on 02/15/2012

Well for starters..Collect as many facts as you can..Not opinion...And just report to the viewing audience what you concretely know. Leave speculation and personal opinion out of it..At least for the first few days.

[suziesbro]

01:34 PM on 02/15/2012

Kudos to Don Lemon. He had just finished his news broadcast and was heading downstairs as
CNN went to a recorded feature. He ran back up to the studio and ad-libbed, in a calm and respectful manner, for at least one hour and likely more, with very little to go on. A credit to CNN which, sadly, also brought us the bile-spewing, clueless Nancy Grace and her fact-free conclusions and demands for answers which will not be forthcoming for quite a while. She has a demented imagination and will milk this as long as possible over on HLN.

[B from B]

02:29 PM on 02/15/2012

The best TV newcaster 'ad-lib' was in 1986, when Peter Jennings was on ABC reporting all afternoon about the Challenger explosion. Jennings was a class act! His kind are very few and far between, and sadly, fewer and farther between as the years continue to roll on.

[silvertongue]

06:47 PM on 02/15/2012

You're right; I remember that.

[booksnstuff]

05:01 PM on 02/15/2012

You are so correct about Nancy Grace. I loved Whitney Houston as an artist, and was truly heartbroken to hear of her passing. Her talent was pure, rich, flawless. No one knows what killed her. Everybody should just respect that and give those who are examining and investigating this matter time to get the facts so that they can tell us the correct details.