I haven't written up a lesson plan for this idea, but another interesting thing to analyze in the classroom would be one of the skirmishes between John Stewart and a "legitimate" news source. A recent example involved Stewart criticizing the MSNBC show "Morning Joe" for its sponsorship by Starbucks. Stewart argued that this sponsorship affects their ability to objectivity report the news; he included a clips where MSNBC hosts interviewed the CEO of Starbucks and appeared very agreeable and non hard-hitting, he also included numerous praisings of the company's beverages. After this segment aired, the host of Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough, shot back that Jon Stewart is angry and short and has a "Napolenonic complex." Initially, Stewart focused his argument on ideas and journalistic integrity, and while Scarborough defended their sponsorship (in an almost non-sensical way which Stewart further criticized) he quickly resorted to personal attacks on Stewart. I think it would be interesting for students to analyze the kinds and types of arguments made by these very different television hosts.
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