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Ok, the 2008 Presidential Election is over; I have exhaled… a little.

After all the media coverage on the events leading up to the first Black Democratic presidential nominee, CNN decides it needs a “comedy” show on the “most trusted name in news” network? Is this decision really trustworthy?

I mean, seriously, who decided that people want to see a funny man on a “serious” news channel? Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert conduct their business in an appropriate place-on Comedy Central. Wouldn’t DL be more appreciated (and funnier) on TBS?

It’s Saturday night and I’m attempting-after three previous tries-to watch a full episode of the new show on CNN, “D. L. Hughley Breaks the News.” While I like D.L. as a comedian, something just doesn’t sit well with me as I watch the show.

It’s even more insulting to me as a media activist because I know how few African American-oriented news programs are out there. And to have CNN and Turner executives choose a comedian as the host of their first African American-targeted news show (with an actual marketing budget, I might add) really calls into question their motto as the “most trusted names in news.”

Ironically, during commercial breaks we are still expected to digest serious news given “seriously” by the anchors of CNN’s Most Trusted Names in News team and then go right back to comedy!

The show is out of place and Turner Broadcasting can easily fix it. Turner owns TBS (very funny). Transfer the show to the TBS late night slot and market Hughley’s program on CNN! Cross-promote here and there and then hire a “real” journalist, thinker, or news anchor type to cover serious news from Black perspectives.

If CNN continues such careless thinking, the joke may very well end up on them.

Lisa Fager is President and Founder of Industry Ears, Inc., an advocacy/activist think tank and a consultant for the Congressional Black Caucus.