TV Poll: Who Is CNBC For?

I watch Mad Money. I don't like it as much as I liked Cramer on the radio (moment of silence for another decaying medium), and isn't as straight up helpful as thestreet.com or his one book (one book is good, the others not so much). There is no other place on television (or really anywhere) where you can get serious meaningful interviews with various executives, and insightful stock analysis. I actually disagree with a lot of his calls, but it is interesting to see another trader's thought process. Also, one time I was totally able to predict a Cramer call, and I was able to game the show (the show occasionally inspires little bumps, it happens, honest, maybe...)
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I've learn stuff occassionaly, and if nothing else, it makes me feel better about messing around in the stock market. I'm not a sucker! Cramer is in the trenches with me! So, I get pyschological validation, I guess?
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On the weekends, the missus will occassionally watch the To Catch a Predator marathon or whatever it is they use as filler.

I turn it on occasionally when there's big financial news happening, because everything really does tend to break there first. But I find that when I leave it on for more than about half an hour I start to go a little crazy inside.

On virtually every trading floor on Wall Street and elsewhere, CNBC is on the TV--but with the sound turned off.

I used to watch CNBC all the time, but recently, I've been turned off by them. They rarely give disclosure, which as a business network, I feel is wrong, and they seem to be more concerned with shouting at the viewer and their own colleagues than getting down to the heart of the news and the financial crisis. Instead, I've started tuning into Fox Business Network and Bloomberg to get my financial news. They have better reporting and there's not the infighting that I keep seeing on the CNBC tube.

[...] Posted by James Poniewozik | Comments (0) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This Apropos my who-watches-CNBC post of this morning, the PBS  Frontline episode "Inside the Meltdown" opens with a tick-tock of [...]

As my husband is a financial consultant/stock broker with Smith Barney, we are glued to this channel!!

[...] more here. Posted by Chris Roush [...]

CNBC is an AMERICAN television station? I thought it stood for Canadian National Broadcasting Station.

I think this is an important question. CNBC seems to be getting away with all kinds of inappropriate reporting during this crisis... and the issue of "who" is watching could be critical to the markets and economies rebound. Sophisticated traders and investors know to take their self serving, theatrical reporting with a grain of salt - or better - discount it as the "business-entertainment" outlet that it truly is. While Fox and Bloomberg may indeed be good alternatives, their tiny audiences, compared to CNBC's market leadership "small" audience... less than 1 full national ratings point on its best day... has a disproportionate impact on this story. There are many wonderful sources for information about the crisis outside of CNBC. It is the unsophisticated, average investor that have relied on CNBC who have suferred the most during this crisis and are at the greatest risk for further losses who are most underserved by CNBC's "look at me" style of reporting. The whole Rick Santelli thing last week was likely drawn up at the highest levels of CNBC's management to generate buzz about them and their channel and to provoke a resopnse to from the White House... the look at me culture at its worst. Even with my own extensive professional background in this medium, I too watch it all day long. So who, is me... and it makes me shudder.

Mostly it's just for background TV, but I do pay attention when guests are on like Nouriel Roubini, Nassim Taleb, Meredith Whitney, Hugh Hendry, and a few others who have a grasp on the current economic crisis, and what the future might bring.
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CNBC's host lineup though is mostly full of bullish cheerleaders and Wall Street shills, Kudlow and Kneale being the worst of the bunch. Santelli isn't like any of them though, and has been against all bailouts since day one. He's gone off on much more vociferous rants than the housing bailout in the past, and it did surprise me that this one went viral across the net and the airwaves. It's a shame he didn't go on The Daily Show to put forth his entire views of the bailout, because now most people will just see him as cold hearted towards people who can't pay their mortgages.

I did have it on, again for background info. But I am so fed up with their reporting since Obama has become president, that I have mostly switched to Bloomberg. The reporting has been terrible!!! It is like all of a sudden they turned into Fox Business News.

AS to your question, there is no doubt in my mind, they are FOR the big guys and Wall Street and rich Republicans. It wasn't as obvious when a Republican was president. But it sure is now.

Kudos for Jon Stewart. And for more stories like the one in Time this week.

I virtually never watch CNBC unless I am in a foreign country and it is one of the few English language channels available. I stopped listening to and blocked all emails from the business blabberatti once they called the market "bottom" in July 2008. I hate to fall back on a tired cliché, but if they knew something of value that the rest of us didn't, why on earth would they tell us. The truly knowledgeable are people who keep their information to themselves and quietly, successfully invest – people like Warren Buffett.