NPR’s David Folkenflik applauds CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo for her interview with former BofA executive John Thain.
Bartiromo has been accused at times of being too cozy with the financial giants she interviews – a charge that has also been leveled more generally at CNBC and at TV financial news shows. A column in the New York Post, a corporate sibling of the rival Fox Business Network, insinuates that Bartiromo only got the interview because she shares a publicity agent with Thain. If so, Thain was mistaken if he thought this appearance would buff his image.
But, Folkenflik figures, in this interview, “She strips him bare.” He does a line-by-line through the transcript and concludes: “This wasn’t great investigative journalism. But it was a nice example of a television journalist simply doing her job.”
> On the flipside, HuffPo’s Adam Green writes about NBC’s “Erin Burnett problem.” Green says Burnett “serves as an apologist for Wall Street’s worst practices.”
> Update: Jim Cramer comes to Erin Burnett’s defense: “The bozo who attacked you clearly didn’t understand or didn’t watch or I don’t know what he did. But the attack was unwarranted.” More after the jump…
This afternoon on Street Signs…
CRAMER: THIS IS A BLOG THAT ATTACKED OUR OWN ERIN IN A WAY THAT I THOUGHT WAS VERY INJUDICIOUS…TRIED TO GET YOU TO BE THE SPOKESPERSON FOR BANKERS WHICH WAS COMPLETELY UNTRUE CAUSE I SAW THE PRESENTATION YOU JUST EXPLAINED IT. YOU DIDN’T SAY IT WAS RIGHT YOU EXPLAINED IT
BURNETT: NO. BUT THAT CERTAINLY WASN’T WHAT THEY ALLEGED WITHOUT ASKING FOR MY COMMENT
CRAMER: WELL I WAS FURIOUS ABOUT THAT I THOUGHT YOU TOLD IT LIKE THE ONLY PERSON WHO TOLD IT HOW IT WORKS YOU DIDN’T SAY I AM SO THRILLED IT WORKS THAT WAY THIS IS THE BONUS SYSTEM ON WALL STREET BUT THE BOZO WHO ATTACKED YOU CLEARLY DIDN’T UNDERSTAND OR DIDN’T WATCH OR I DON’T KNOW WHAT HE DID BUT THE ATTACK WAS UNWARRANTED
BURNETT: I APPRECIATE THAT JIM THANK YOU