It’s about time. CNBC is maddeningly journalistic rather than business-oriented in its style, and its news coverage and program selections are shot through with leftist, anti-business bias. You would think that a network devoted to markets and business would be run by people who actually know something about markets and business. Instead we get hot babes and snarky voiceover “analysis” from j-school hipsters who have all the elitist and group-thinking instincts of modern professional journalists. What a herd. Every once in a while they stumble onto something good and unique but not PC, like Kudlow or the WSJ editors’ show, but then they try to kill it by changing its scheduling and promoting the conventional-wisdom news show or screaming-asshole trading show of the moment in its place.
Finally, they are going to have real competition. This will benefit everyone other than CNBC’s owners and staff.
Well, that depends. Just how hot are the babes we’re talking about, here?
Jay – not all that hot.
I tend to agree, although Fox News certainly got into the screaming asshole business coverage mode when it featured Jim Kramer. I was in Japan at the time of the tech bubble, and Kramer was the only business show from the West that came on during my waking hours. Hopefully they’ll do better this time. No hedge funds.
Cramer is now on CNBC.
The CNBC women are obviously not being hired on competence alone. Not surprising, as the audience is probably mostly male, but the network could easily hire better people of both sexes. Some of the “senior correspondents,” like Bob Pisani, make me wonder if CNBC goes out of its way to hire people who don’t have a clue. Or maybe CNBC can get away with keeping mediocre people because there isn’t much competition.
Tell us what you really think.
Ah, come on. CNBC is no where near as leftist as the NBC Nightly News. Give them a break.
I think everything will be ok…
I do like CNBC’s The Big Idea in the evening.