Xeni Jardin called it “one of the most powerful televised exchanges in recent history” but I think it can be boiled down to the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart calling Tucker Carlson “a dick” on air. (Torrent links, transcript, MeFi, Mark Evanier.)

I haven’t watched the Daily Show much (though I’ve thoroughly enjoyed what little I’ve seen) and I’ve never watched Crossfire before this episode but something bugs me about this. I don’t think this was a heartfelt plea to the media or a wake-up call so much as Stewart going on the offensive when he realised Carlson was about to call him on the perceived hypocrisy.

(The segment was preceeded by a clip showing Stewart being amused over some softball questions thrown at Kerry and then later included some of Stewart’s own softball questions to the Democratic Presidential candidate.)

Carlson, who got put in his place, had a point, though: why doesn’t Stewart do on his show what he claims the news media isn’t doing? Because it’s a comedy show on Comedy Central preceeded by a show about puppets making crank phone calls? That’s a cop-out. Check out Stewart’s intro for his post-9/11 show. Clearly, Comedy Central won’t have to change its name or focus if Stewart occasionally puts on a serious face and does the kind of interview he feels the news media isn’t doing. Kerry isn’t appearing on every show so that appearance would’ve warranted some serious questions instead of “How are you holding up?” I’m not sure Stewart can shrug off his own responsibilities when 21 per cent of Americans between 18-29 get their news from The Daily Show and Saturday Night Live.

Let’s see if Stewart continues wagging his finger at the news media and telling them how to do their jobs when he no longer needs to promote a book. I’m hoping he does but I’m not really holding my breath.