CNBC's reputation has taken a beating lately. Damage from the much anticipated Daily Show smackdown between Jon Stewart and CNBC's Jim Cramer may be slow to heal.
CNBC left the ring bruised and battered. The question is: when will audiences trust the network's coverage again, if ever?
It's been a public relations disaster and NBC Universal execs have only themselves to blame.
The controversy really started a looooong time ago (in television/24 hour news cycle time) with CNBC's Rick Santelli and his meltdown, live, from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade.
To recap: Santelli went OFF on a rant about the Obama Administration's plan to save desperate homeowners from foreclosure. He compared Obama's effort to Cuba under Castro. Santelli trashed homeowers as nothing more than a bunch of reprobates who borrowed money to add "an extra bathroom" to their now underwater homes.
Yet, the Wall Street investment firms and bankers responsible for the big mess in the first place had secured close to a cool trillion - just in time to pay out billions in staff bonuses, and, ironically (in the case of Merrill Lynch's John Thain), renovate their corporate bathrooms with $35,000 commodes.
Santelli's rant was oddly self-serving and tone deaf in a "let them eat cake" way.
Instead of allowing the rant to fizzle, NBC Universal cross-promoted the Santelli breakdown. Sister network NBC featured Santelli's moment in the sun at the top of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.
Users stampeded to the CNBC website, after Drudge posted a link. But be careful what you wish for. The blow-back from that brief flare of attention has been intense.
What was NBC Universal thinking? How did they not grasp the obvious blow-back potential of the Santelli rant?
Enter Jon Stewart:
Stewart picked a fight with this now famous frontal assault on CNBC. He unloaded on Rick Santelli after Santelli canceled a scheduled appearance on The Daily Show. (It's never a good idea to cancel an appearance. John McCain, for instance, learned the hard way after he bailed on David Letterman.)
Stewart capped his remarks with a rousing "F*ck you!" Ouch.
Then, Jim Cramer - who resides in the most delicate of all CNBC glass houses - complained his remarks were taken out of context by Stewart. Uh, oh. Stewart was all over that one. Here, he eviscerates Cramer and invites someone - anyone! - from CNBC to guest on his show.
Thus, the stage was set for the Jim Cramer/Jon Stewart smack down.
The day after was brutal. The media was ABUZZZZZZ - and I mean ABUZZZZZ - about the meet-up. Competing networks used the opportunity to stomp on NBC Universal.
This is just some of the coverage that I happened to watch live on Friday, March 13.
ABC Nightly News featured a brief analysis by Washington Post's media columnist Howard Kurtz (@howardkurtz on Twitter).
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric gave the smackdown extensive coverage with a lengthy commentary by Jeff Greenfield reminiscent of the old news days a la Walter Cronkite. Stewart, noted Greenfield, "was like a prosecutor bearing down on a decidedly clearly uncomfortable witness."
KRON 4, a local San Francisco station, flayed CNBC. The on-air host asserted that the
producer for Jim Cramer's CNBC show Mad Money was formerly a producer for Jerry Springer.
"For real business news," said KRON 4, "read BusinessWeek or watch Bloomberg."
Like I said, it may be awhile, if ever, until CNBC regains audience trust.
Comments