Mediagazer: Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Estimated 215,000 (Brian Montopoli/CBS News)

3:50 AM ET, November 1, 2010

Top News:

Rally to Shift the Blame — In his new role as a political leader, which is what you call somebody if he hosts a rally on the Washington Mall for over 200,000 people, Jon Stewart was a little hemmed at the Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday. Because sanity should know no party, partisan rhetoric was not on the teleprompter.

Discussion: Lost Remote and Big Hollywood

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Jon Stewart Rally Attracts Estimated 215,000 — An estimated 215,000 people attended a rally organized by Comedy Central talk show hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Saturday in Washington, according to a crowd estimate commissioned by CBS News. — The company AirPhotosLive.com based …

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Examiner, New York Magazine, CTV.ca, The New Yorker Blog, Mediaite, The Wire, Gawker, TPMDC, Runnin' Scared, MetaFilter, Associated Press, Washington Wire, FrumForum and Rolling Stone

Brian Stelter / The Caucus:
Rally Includes Lesson in Media Criticism 301

Discussion: The Huffington Post, SAI, Washington Post and The Daily Beast

Frances Martel / Mediaite:
Jon Stewart Explains The Purpose Of The Rally To Restore Sanity

Discussion: MediaMemo, New York Times, Speakeasy, Gawker, Lost Remote, Guardian, TBD All News, The New Yorker Blog, The Wrap and Geekosystem

Arthur S. Brisbane / New York Times:

Sharing Secrets at Arm's Length — THE two stories stood side by side: one said that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, was on the run, in fear of Western intelligence agencies and seen by some colleagues as “delusional,” “erratic” and “imperious.” The other story?

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Alaska station says Breitbart Web site audio attack is bogus — Is another Andrew Breitbart Web site production about to be unmasked as bogus? — Breitbart's Big Journalism site is making an incendiary accusation: That reporters at the Anchorage CBS affiliate KTVA were caught conspiring …

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Big Journalism, Media Matters for America and The Huffington Post

P.J. Salvatore / Big Journalism:
Anchorage CBS Affiliate Caught on Voicemail Conspiring Against …

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog, Media Matters for America, The Daily Caller, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, Mediaite, The Daily Dish and FrumForum

Russell Adams / Wall Street Journal:

Michaels Weighs Comeback Plans — Barely a week after an ignominious end to his career at Tribune Co., Randy Michaels said he hopes to return to the industry that didn't exactly embrace him. — “I may go buy some media, I may go run some media, I don't know,” he said. “My phone's been ringing.

Discussion: Tower Ticker

Jessica E. Vascellaro / Wall Street Journal:

Gawker to Drop Old Blog Look — Founder Denton Favors Newsmagazine Style, Refashioning Face of Online Media — Gawker Media founder Nick Denton, whose snarky approach has shaped the blogosphere's tone for years, is overhauling his sites to broaden their appeal, an attempted transformation …

Hunter Walker / New York Observer: The Perils of Being a Gawker Media Tipster

Meg Pickard / Guardian:

Open door — The Guardian's head of digital engagement on ... the rules of participation — The US department-store chain Nordstrom famously gave new starters an 8in by 5in card as an employee handbook. As well as welcoming the employee and outlining the company's commitment to customer service …

Thanks:martinsfp

Claire Cain Miller / New York Times:

Why Twitter's C.E.O. Demoted Himself — AT the annual South by Southwest gathering of techies in Austin, Tex., in March, conference organizers had chosen a hangar-size room to accommodate their star speaker: Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, the messaging and social networking site that had become a digital phenomenon.

Discussion: TechCrunch and SAI, more at Techmeme »

Cory Bergman / Lost Remote:

Good advice for journalist entrepreneurs at ONA — “If you are a journalist and you want to be an entrepreneur, you need to have a serious, serious attitude adjustment.” — That was Michele McLellan's advice leading off the “Turning Bits into Bucks” session here at ONA 2010.

Peter Preston / Guardian:

Murdoch's paywall: those who leap are an engaging lot — The Times can take comfort from the fact that its few hundred thousand unique visitors are jolly good sorts — For a totally technical, mechanically precise medium, the internet is a hopeless measuring tool.

Brian Morrissey / Adweek:

Publishers' iPad Apps: Hot or Not? — Such editions have disappointed, despite high hopes — The iPad dreams of magazine publishers could be the latest death by irrational exuberance. — Despite the optimism that greeted the new device, there is a danger that publishers are squandering …

Thanks:steverubel

Keisha C. Frazier / ONA10:

Online Journalism Awards honor the best of the best — Online Journalism Awards recognized journalists for their compelling pieces this year. General Excellence in Online Journalism award winners include msnbc.com, California Watch and the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Texas Tribune …

Media Decoder:

Fox Returns to Cablevision — The Fox network flickered back to life in three million homes serviced by Cablevision on Saturday night, signaling an end to an unusually long and bitter feud between the cable company and Fox's parent company, the News Corporation.