CNN boss Jeff Zucker said that he is interested in having a conversation with Jon Stewart about joining CNN after he leaves The Daily Show. The idea of a Jon Stewart to CNN move should terrify Fox News.
When asked about Stewart joining CNN, Zucker said, “Sure. If he wants to come, we’d like to talk to him. I tried to hire Jon Stewart to basically bring ‘The Daily Show’ to NBC… I’m a huge admirer of what Jon Stewart does…I don’t think it’s in the cards, but if you’re asking if there would be room for it, the answer is yes. Is it likely to happen? I don’t really think so. We’d love to have that conversation.”
I am sure that the potential suitors for Stewart will be lined up around the block after he retires from The Daily Show, but juiciest irony would involve Stewart joining a network that has so often been in his crosshairs for their practice of dubious journalism. The upside of going to CNN would be that Stewart could finally run the kind of cable news show that he has stated for years that he would want to see.
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The people who should be really terrified of the prospect of Jon Stewart joining CNN are Roger Ailes and Fox News. Fox has treated Stewart like media public enemy number one for years. Fox News even went as far as to edit one Stewart’s appearances on their network in order to make him look bad.
Jon Stewart is the one person in media who could knock Bill O’Reilly off of his perch as the top rated cable news host in the country. CNN now has the youngest audience in cable news, and has been the one network that is steadily on the rise.
The odds are though that Jon Stewart won’t be trading in four nights a week of television on The Daily Show for five nights a week on CNN. Stewart next project most likely will not be another nightly television show on any network.
CNN’s interest in the retiring Daily Show host is a sign that CNN is serious about dethroning Fox News, and that alone should make Fox very afraid.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
