Jon Stewart's annihilation this week of the bogus Fox News talking point about it separates news from opinion, represented the umpteenth example of how Comedy Central does a better job reporting on the press than do supposedly serious journalists.

Stewart's program did what virtually no other mainstream media outlet or elite media pundit has been willing to do since the dispute with the White House began, and that is shine a spotlight on what Fox News actually produces. It's a no-brainer, right? The White House had made very specific allegations about the shoddy type of partisan and false programming Fox News airs, so it would seem logical while covering the controversy that journalists actually examined those allegations in detail, right?

Not among Beltway journalists it's not.

For weeks, pundits only wanted to chatter about how the White House and how its decision to fact-check blatantly bogus Fox News 'reporting' was just an awful move. It was petty and thin-skinned and short-sighted and uncivil. "Absolutely crazy."

Everyone agreed that it was the Obama administration's behavior that was waaaaay out of bounds. Fox News'? Pundits and reporters didn't much care. And most of them pretended not to understand why the White House was so upset. What was so bad about Fox news, journalists scratched their heads, as they pretended that Media Matters hadn't laid out that case ad nauseam for weeks.

But then Stewart came along and did what nobody else on on the mainstream stage was willing to do. And once again, it's a comedian who shamed the press for not even thinking about doing it job.