On Thursday, the US Supreme Court finally ruled on President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act, saying that its central provision can be upheld and that the health insurance mandate is constitutional.
But two major news outlets struggled with their coverage. Both CNN and Fox News incorrectly reported that the court had shot down Obamacare, with CNN providing a full seven minutes of on-air analysis before realizing their error.
To Jon Stewart's mind, the collective flub is just the product of media outlets focusing too much on being "today's grand champion of news-firstiness" instead of, you know, getting the facts right. So on Thursday night's "Daily Show," he took the networks to task.
Much of CNN's coverage raised questions of whether any of the healthcare reform would pass if the central mandate hadn't gone through. All of them seemed to think that the loss was a huge blow to Obama's presidency, which it would have been if that had actually happened. Stewart joked:
Yes. How will the 'administration' recover after this incredibly public blow to their credibility? 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*ck up. Sure wouldn't want to be the 'administration' right now.
By the time CNN noticed their mistake and began reporting on "widely different" accounts of the ruling, it was too late. The damage had been done.
"Yes, widely different," Stewart joked. "There's what you've been saying, and then there's what happened."
Watch the full clip above.