Jon Stewart vs. the Perpetual Panic Conflictinator

[Commentary] Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear," which packed the National Mall in Washington on Saturday, wasn't exactly what I anticipated. I came expecting laughs and mockery -- and, sure, that was part of it -- but instead found myself in the middle of a massive media-criticism seminar.

One might hope such a clever and clear-headed critique would serve as something of a wake-up call for the mainstream media. But, alas, their reaction was far more predictable. First, they downplayed the event as little more than a celebrity sideshow -- unworthy of the kind of coverage and column inches they'd give to, say, a much smaller Tea Party rally or Glenn Beck-a-Palooza (which made the front-pages despite being about a third the size of the Comedy Central event). Then the media got awfully defensive about Stewart's jabs. The thin-skinned media should be less defensive about Stewart and more attentive to what their dwindling audience is trying to tell them. They don't really hate the media. They just want them to do their job.