On Tuesday night’s episode of “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart announced his plan to buy out CNN—but there’s a catch. He needs your help. Stewart explained that if media magnate Rupert Murdoch was able to purchase CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, then the news network would have to be sold to avoid any problems with regulatory guidelines. After all, Murdoch also owns Fox News and that creates an inexcusable–and illegal–conflict of interest.
Stewart’s solution? The comedian proposes that his viewers buy CNN from Time Warner–using crowdfunding! Stewart urged viewers to visit letsbuycnn.com which was set up to look like a fully-functioning Kickstarter page–seeking donations towards a $10 billion fundraising goal. The site doesn’t actually accept donations, but Stewart explained that he chose the goal amount because, “analysts [are] saying the network would be worth about $10 billion on the open market.” He continued, “It’s a lot of money for anyone, but not a lot of money for everyone.” But wait, there’s more! With a fictional donation to Stewart’s Kickstarter, you’ll gain access to a ton of different reward levels. For example, if you were to hypothetically contribute $1 billion to the cause, you would be allowed to host a CNN-anchor fight to the death, Hunger Games-style.
