I wouldn't say that Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer have some conspiracy going, but remember that these two people are EXTREMELY media savvy. One's a comedian, and the other is a stock commentator -- but both are TV hosts, and as TV hosts, they ply their trade in maximizing RATINGS. They are both media savvy enough to know how to play off each other without having to actually pre-plan or discuss anything ("hey, it's nothing personal") because both know the game and are willing to play along without having to step aside and say "wink wink we're just playing each other for ratings".
As such, while I believe that their disagreements are genuine, they certainly both know that they are playing it up for each other -- it's theater and they both know it.
CNBC is certainly guilty of cheerleading and wanting "access" over investigative journalism. But if CNBC and Jim Cramer were truly truly bothered by that accusation, they would've just issued a "no comment", rather than adding more fuel to the fire by having Jim Cramer do a bunch of interviews to respond to Jon Stewart's monologues.
Jim Cramer added fuel to the fire because he (and CNBC) knows that it will only up the "gawker factor" and get more people to watch his show - Jim knows he's completely over the top and will play that up for the camera. Likewise, Jon Stewart continues to respond because he knows that this tit-for-tat is becoming newsworthy, which only gets more people to tune into his show. From this spectacle, it's clear that CNBC does NOT care about its journalistic integrity. It's about ratings, pure and simple. With a circus, you're guaranteed to get some audience...
And the fact that this tit-for-tat has culminated in Jim finally being a guest on Jon Stewart's show? Ratings gold. How many more people are more motivated to tune in to see what will happen now?
Get your popcorn ready...