Jon Stewart Mandate Screengrab - H 2012
Comedy CentralWhen CNN flubbed its reporting on the Supreme Court’s health care decision, The Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart was there to take the news channel to task during his exasperated monologue.
Behind the scenes, the Comedy Central host and his team of writers no doubt had a field day with CNN’s error.
If you missed the widely-mocked mistake: although the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, ie Obamacare, as constitutional, CNN — eager to be first with the news — misreported the ruling as the opposite, as did Fox News. But while Fox instantly corrected its flub, CNN let it go on a full seven minutes.
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Rolling footage of CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reacting to the false news (“Wow, that’s a dramatic moment”), Stewart sniped: “Yes, a moment of great drama! And like many of our greatest dramas, a work of complete fiction.”
(Meanwhile, according to Buzzfeed, CNN’s newsroom was aghast at the snafu and “on the verge of open revolt” after a producer fed correspondent Kate Bolduan the wrong information.)
Cue more embarrassing on-air coverage in which the network’s reporters deem the ruling a massive blow to the Obama Administration.
“Yes, how will the administration recover after this incredibly public blow to their credibility,” Stewart said, smirking with self-satisfaction. “I mean, the administration staked their entire reputation on this important moment, and now the administration is out there, the face of this giant f–kup. Sure wouldn’t want to be the administration right now.”
Watch the clip below.
