Jon Stewart to Cover Election for Washington Post?

You never can tell what the Washington Post will bring—in addition to the news.

Monday it was a little bag of oatmeal in the newspaper’s plastic delivery sleeve. Today it was Patrick Dempsey leaning on his wife’s pregnant belly on the cover of Life, a photo-driven weekly supplement that will arrive with the paper every Thursday.

Tomorrow it could be Jon Stewart on washingtonpost.com.

Sources who are part of the talks report that the Post’s Web site is talking with Comedy Central about joining forces with The Daily Show to cover the 2008 presidential campaign. These sources say that washingtonpost.com CEO & publisher Caroline Little and editor Jim Brady have been part of the conversations in New York.

No one could be reached to confirm the talks.

The prospect of mixing Jon Stewart’s brand of irreverence with Dan Balz’s serious analysis could draw more readers to washingtonpost.com.

Stewart and his zany crew covered the last presidential campaign with a mocking tone that delighted the coveted 25- to 34-year-old demographic. Their DVD—The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004—was a big seller. Many viewers thought that Stewart and crew at the conventions were much more entertaining than the talking heads on the evening news—or on cable.

Making a deal with Comedy Central would bring the Washington Post Company together with Viacom, which owns the cable network. At the upper echelons, the Post already is in league with Microsoft, with Melinda Gates on its board of trustees. A deal with Comedy Central would link the Post to Sumner Redstone, chairman of Viacom. The Post also collaborates with MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal.

Harry Jaffe