Jon Stewart mocks media questioning Bill O'Reilly's Falklands 'war zone' stories
'Misrepresenting the zone he is in is kind of his hook,' says 'Daily Show' host
Jon Stewart weighed in on the controversy swirling around Bill O'Reilly's Falklands War reporting on Tuesday, mocking the media for questioning the Fox News host's assertion that where he was covering the 1982 conflict — in Buenos Aires, Argentina — was a "war zone."
“Really? We’re going after O’Reilly for exaggerating being in a war zone?” the "Daily Show" host asked, pointing out the "No Spin Zone" tagline of O'Reilly's cable news show. “Misrepresenting the zone he is in is kind of his hook.”
Stewart presented a recent segment on O'Reilly's "Factor" which included a correspondent "who disproves global warming by wandering around Boston pointing at snow."
Even Fox News' slogan — "Fair and Balanced" — is "a textbook case of trolling," Stewart quipped. "No one's watching them for the actual truth."
Earlier this week, O'Reilly defended his reporting on the "Factor," showing archival footage of the 1982 reports to prove that protests he was covering near the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, were violent — a characterization some of his former CBS News colleagues dispute.
Those comparing O'Reilly's alleged embellishments to those of Brian Williams, like Mother Jones — which sparked the recent furor — are missing the point, Stewart said.
“It seems to me, you know, we might all be just a little better off if the exaggerations about covering a war get less attention than the exaggerations that got us into so many of them," Stewart said.
