CNN's Rick Sanchez Says John Stewart Bigot, CNN Ran By Jews?

CNN's Rick Sanchez got on the radio show called Stand-Up With Pete Dominick (Dominick is a stand-up comic) and in a long conversation with the host, called Jon Stewart of The Daily Show a bigot, and said that CNN is "ran by Jews."  But in all of the controversy over what Rick Sanchez said, the host of Rick's List is telling some truths.

Two of the truth's he's telling is that Jon Stewart does have a staff that's not diverse, and thus does leave himself open to being called a "bigot." The other is that Jews, while the victims of heavy Worldwide discrimination, are not powerless.

As a former member of the local Hillel chapter and because of my last name (Abraham and a long story), the wonderful aspect of Jewish Culture is the practice of helping each other and society. That leads to the power of a social network that leads to being able to make sure friends get employed, even if they're not Jewish.

All of that was lost in the presentation of Rick's clumsy talk, which reflected more of a hateful bias than a loving one.

Pete went to Atlanta to do his SiriusXM Radio Show, which is where the interview took place. According to Pete Dominick's own site, Sanchez "railed" against Fox News and MSNBC, the two competing cable news networks, for their right and left news bias.

Then Rick turned his lather toward Jon Stewart: I think to some extent Jon Stewart and [Stephen] Colbert are the same way. I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot." And from that point, Rick and Pete got into a discussion of what Rick meant by that.

But the question is, is Rick correct? Well, yes and no.


The Daily Show's Problem

Yes, because while The Daily Show has women writers, its reported that the men hold the best jobs and they're white. What Rick was saying is that Jon has a bias in that he has people who tend to have his skin color around him. That can't be said, for example, for Jimmy Fallon of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, who's white, but has two African American male writers, Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle (in the front row in the photo at left).

The photo here, from a meetup panel discussion on late-night comedy writers, is a good illustration. In the front row, Salahuddin and Riddle are sitting next to Jason Ross and J.R. Havlan, both of The Daily Show, and both part of a stable of white male writers. A group that drew major criticism in the wake of the David Letterman Sex Scandal, where David admitted to sleeping with his assistant Stephanie Burkitt.

All of this doens't mean Jon Stewart is a bigot.  Trying to find people who are good and of color is a task worth taking - Jimmy Fallon has done it.  But it means that Jon may have an old man's view of American Culture that causes him to turn a blind eye toward black-influenced American Culture.  That means his blinders can be removed; not so for a bigot.


CNN Ran By A Mix Of People

From the perspective of a person - this blogger - who's had a lot of experience with CNN and Turner Broadcasting, it's safe to say it's not "ran by Jews."  Even with its unfortunate focus on the Tea Party Movement, CNN's staff has a healthy mix of talented women and men of all colors.  CNN, for me, has been a positive experience and a wonderful organization.  

More on this later.