"Media Malpractice" & Argument

I recently watched the documentary Media Malpractice which outlines the problematic media coverage in the last presidential election.  The director, John Ziegler, constructs a two part argument: 1. Obama was elected because of media favoritism and slant and 2. Palin was targeted and maliciously mocked in an effort to undermine McCain's campaign.  The documentary has a significant bias and frequently falls short of sound logic, but it would be an excellent teaching tool for a unit on argument. 

What was most interesting was not the documentary itself, but an interview I found on the Huffington post website. John Wellington Ennis includes a transcript and video clips from the interview.  The interview would provide a perfect opportunity for students to unlock tone, bias, and slant. 

Ennis prefaces the interview by explaining how Ziegler walked in.  He states, "He arrived casually contemptuous."  The interview is followed by corrections/retractions that Ziegler allegedly requested. The most fascinating part of the corrections is the interviewer's decision to include Ziegler's own email.  The choice is extremely manipulative, though effective.  Ziegler's tone and word choice in his email are rather incriminating and do nothing to endear him to readers of the article. 


UPDATE: The originally posted version of this article included a statement that Mr. Ziegler refused to shake my cameraman's hand upon arrival. Upon clarification, my cameraman has informed me that after Mr. Ziegler first waved off shaking his hand when offered, he then made a repeated thrust at Mr. Ziegler of his hand to ensure a proper greeting. We regret the error.
2nd UPDATE: Mr. Ziegler was not satisfied with the previous retraction on the handshake claim by my cameraman, so I am now printing his exact words so that how cordial he is cannot be called into question:

I saw your update. Do you even remotely care about being a lying sack of crap? I told you what happened with the "handshake" and you still lie about it. I have no idea what delusions your cameraman is under but I can assure you that I did not avoid shaking his hand. Once again, do you not recall that I was on the phone with you when this person unknown to me tried to introduce himself and I had no hands available?! You people are absolutely amazing. You have no standards, no principles, no argument other than trying to do anything you can, no matter how petty or inaccurate, to make someone look bad. Is that really all you have? Really? Wow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wellington-ennis/sarah-palins-greatest-def_b_179260.html

The book Engaging Readers & Writers with Inquiry by Jeffrey Wilhelm discusses a teaching tool called "Critical Review Responses."  Simply put, this activity has students read reviews of pieces they read in class.  This could easily be tweaked to fit a lesson on nonfiction film.  Media Malpractice, reviews, and possibly this interview could work together as a text set that encourages students to look for patterns, ask questions, and determine reliability.