Monday, March 09, 2009

CNBC Gets Kid Gloves Treatment From New York Times

Not Asking the Questions About Rick Santelli That Needed Answers

So, Jon Stewart pimp-slaps CNBC last Wednesday after the network canceled an appearance on "The Daily Show" by viral ranter Rick Santelli. Stewart's eight-minute tirade didn't get quite as much attention as Santelli's fulminations about the Obama administration's mortgage plan. But it was a lot funnier and definitely hit its mark.
Can you say ouch?
Along comes The New York Times, which has a longish piece in today's business section about CNBC, which asked "Was last week the worst one in CNBC’s 20-year history — or the best?"
We don't get the answer to that question. Nor is there any real examination of an increasingly troubling trend at CNBC -- where anchors and reporters start spouting their opinions along with the guests. That often results in nothing more than a lot of people yelling at each other rather than any real discourse.
But what was really lacking from the article, as Variety's Brian Lowry has also mentioned -- is a response from CNBC to its skewering by Stewart or White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs getting all nasty on Santelli and Jim Cramer.
Which is important, given that CNBC has not said anything publicly about Santelli dissing Stewart. But the Times was certainly in a position to find out, given they spoke with CNBC prexy Mark Hoffman.
Even if Hoffman said "no comment," which would have been pretty dumb, we should have been told that. It just might be that CNBC can dish it out, but can't take it. If that's indeed the case, the Times wasn't letting on.

No comments: