President Barack Obama criticized the media Tuesday for letting its fascination with "shiny objects" distract from more important issues.

"The media are a bunch of different medias. Some get on my nerves more than others," the president said during an appearance on "The Daily Show," his last with Jon Stewart as host.

Stewart had asked Obama whether the media was "inflammatory" and "focused on the wrong things." 

"What I'm most concerned about is not that it's unfair or too tough on government ... but that it gets distracted to shiny objects and doesn't always focus on the big tough choices and decisions," Obama said. 

The White House's interaction with the media is "overstated," Obama said, according to an early pool report.  

"Overall, I think the problem with our interaction with the media is overstated," Obama said, adding that with the "Balkanization" of the media it's hard for the country to get one common conversation "around something other than the Super Bowl."

Obama said that it's tough to get people to do an "hour long special on urban America" because it's "tough to get everyone focused the same way."

"We operate in sound bites," he said. 

Obama added that early on in his presidency he and the press shop stuck more to the talking points and that the press shop was "more cautious." 

"We were way too slow in trying to redesign and re-engineer the White House press office so we could have more unconventional" interactions with the media,Obama said.

Acknowledging the changing media market, Obama said that it is no longer good to just focus on tight two-minute segments for the nightly news.

"There's a learning process that's taking place," he said.

The president also paid homage to Stewart, who has hosted "The Daily Show" for 16 years and held seven interviews with Obama in that time. Stewart is handing over hosting duties to Trevor Noah, a South African comedian, in September.

"I can’t believe you’re leaving before me. I’m going to issue an executive order. Jon Stewart cannot leave the show. It’s being challenged in the courts,” Obama said to laughter.

"To me this is a states' rights issue," Stewart said. 

The taped episode airs at 11 p.m. Tuesday on Comedy Central. 

This post has been updated.