Tony Blair on Jon Stewart.

Before we get to part 2 of the interview, may I pause for a quick rant? Because that failed gotcha moment bugs me.

I’m not a big fan of The Daily Show, quite the opposite. Not that I don’t like it because it’s hosted by an uber-liberal, Jon Stewart. That is what it is. People can choose to watch that or not, and I’m cool with that. What I’m not cool with is shows that completely blur the line between entertainment and news.

For example, I don’t like Keith Olbermann at all. But when people tune in they know it’s a commentary show, an answer to the ratings war with Fox News’ Bill O’Rielly, also an on-the-air columnist or commentary personality, if you will. They know, or at least should know, that he’s not relaying news, but opinion. When people complain about media bias on the right, they say “O’Rielly” or “Rush Limbaugh.” But that confuses the argument — these guys aren’t news anchors, and they never claim to be. They’re opinionators.

This is why I have the hard problem with persons like Katie Couric or Brian Williams, who are supposed to be objective journalists, but whose slant just oozes out of their skin.

The problem I have with the Jon Stewart Show is that he’s commentary masked as a legitimate news anchor.

For example, A Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism poll found in 2007 that among those surveyed Jon Steward ranked fourth behind Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and cable host Anderson Cooper (i.e., tied with) as a “journalist they most admired.”

Note that word “journalist.” Now maybe Stewart doesn’t himself claim to be a journalist. But one doesn’t rank that high among actual news anchors unless they’re trying.

The poll results found, “Republicans in 2007 tended to bear the brunt of ridicule from Stewart and his crew. From July 1 through November 1, Stewart’s humor targeted Republicans more than three times as often as Democrats. The Bush administration alone was the focus of almost a quarter (22%) of the segments in this time period.”

Well, folks, when you have that much slant, that’s not journalism. That’s commentary. Period.

What you get as a result of turning a comedian into a journalist, then, is a backfiring gotcha moment such as in the Tony Blair interview, where Stewart (and presumably his audience) might not know (until corrected) that Argentina, during the Falklands War, wasn’t a democracy. How often do the masses learn inaccurate news from this show? Impossible to know.

And on that note, I’ll turn it over to Mr. Blair, who can defend himself better than any second rate blogger.