Jon Stewart defends Joe Rogan, asks ‘who gets to decide’ what’s labeled ‘misinformation’

According to Fox News, Stewart's poignant discourse takes on a slightly historical tone, as he reminded listeners what was considered "misinformation" in the past.

"I think I get concerned with, well, who gets to decide what … In the Iraq War, I was on the side of what you would think on the mainstream is misinformation. I was promoting what they would call misinformation," Stewart stated.

"But it turned out to be right years later and the establishment media was wrong," Stewart argued. "And not only were they wrong, in some respects, you could make the case that they enabled a war that killed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people and never paid a price for it and never had accountability. And just having an ombudsman print a retraction to me isn't accountability."

Stewart referenced the "weapons of mass destruction" reports in the establishment media in the lead-up to the Iraq War. He made the point that, "The New York Times, right, was a giant purveyor of misinformation, and disinformation."

He drove his point home, saying, "And that's as vaunted a media organization as you can find, but there was no accountability for them." Stewart broadened the historical perception: "And I think where I get nervous is in the run-up to the Iraq War and in the prosecution of the Iraq War, I was very vocal … about that."

"But the mainstream view," Stewart continued in the segment, "The New York Times, was, 'They have weapons of mass destruction, they have these tubes that can only be used for nuclear war, Saddam Hussein is this, he's that.'"

Stewart concluded the discussion: "So it's very easy to attack Rogan … and I'm not saying that that's not your right and that there aren't things there to talk about, but what I'm saying is let's be careful because the sands can shift."