Comic rips media's false sense of urgency

Joe Garofoli, SF Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

It is a telling media milepost as political convention TV coverage unfolds over the next two weeks: Jon Stewart is now the dean of commercial network political convention anchors. The old guard is either retired, deceased or disgraced.

Like everything on Stewart's Comedy Central network, the line about his status as an anchor is uttered with mock gravitas and a raised eyebrow by the cable network's publicists and show staffers. But behind Stewart's wink is a serious passion about holding government accountable and the need for aggressive reporting that he rarely shows publicly. This week he did.

Before "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" aired the first of its four shows produced from the city where Democratic National Convention is being held, Stewart gathered a couple of dozen national political print reporters for breakfast, riffed a few funny lines, then read them the media riot act. He did so in a pointed yet gentle way. But he wasn't joking.

His message: Stop letting the 24-hour cable networks set the nation's political agenda.

(Continued here.)