With the recent influx of new and emerging technology being used in the classroom, some professors opt to use clips from television and Web shows to support their lesson plan.

Some professors have decided to use clips from the Comedy Central show “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” in their classes.

While it is a half-hour comedy, “The Daily Show” provides satirical, yet realistic, analysis of current news and events.

For example, Monday’s episode included commentary from Jon Stewart, the show’s host, and other show correspondents, on the backlash from republican politicians and right wing media outlets on the health care reform bill, which was passed last week.

Marita Gronnvoll, a communication studies professor, said she uses clips from the show in her CMN 3100: Persuasion class. Gronnvoll said the majority of the clips she uses involve Stewart’s criticism of broadcast media.

“(Stewart’s) done commentary on news media’s tendency to over-dramatize situations, such as the use of splashy technology, music and graphics, to inject urgency into stories instead of providing depth of coverage,” Gronnvoll said.

An example Gronnvoll uses is from the night President Barack Obama was elected. The episode Gronnvoll refers to provided satirical criticism of 24-hour networks using the large audience they had that night to debut dramatic technology, such as holographic images.

While Stewart’s politics are left wing, Gronnvoll said she likes him as a media commentator because he is an equal opportunity critic.

“Sure, he’ll skewer Fox News, but he’ll also go to town on MSNBC,” Gronnvoll said.

Dan Hagen, a journalism department professor, uses clips from “The Daily Show” in his Journalism Ethics class.

“I use them because (Stewart) is a serious and impassioned critic of the news media who is disguised as a comedian,” Hagen said. “The ‘real’ news programs appear within ‘The Daily Show’ segments, with their journalistic flaws fully exposed.”

Hagen said part of the reason why he uses the clips is because they engage students by providing the information in a funny way.

Hagen also uses clips from the show because they reiterate the goals of his lesson plans regarding digging for the truth.

“Stewart repeatedly takes aim at the journalistic values we discuss in news writing and ethics class,” Hagen said. “For example, the necessity for reports to dig into the factual truth of claims, and not merely accept phony assertions and ‘have to leave it there.’ It’s the difference between acting as a real journalist and merely being a stenographer for liars.”

Gronnvoll said she has not received any negative feedback from students who do not have the same beliefs as those Stewart preaches in his show.

“I think the clips work because they’re smart, funny and emphasize irony in a way that helps students to apply immediately the often dry theory they are learning in class,” Gronnvoll said.

Sarah Jean Bresnahan can be reached at 581-7942 or dennewsdesk@gmail.com.

Professor Marita Gronnvoll uses “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” as a teaching mechanism for her classes in the communication studies department.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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