CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo took off her “journalism hat” once again this week when discussing hedge fund Blackstone and CEO Stephen Schwarzman, but this time she did it on the air Thursday afternoon when discussing the attempt by Rep. Henry Waxman to have the company’s initial public offering delayed.
For some background, remember that Bartiromo introduced Schwarzman at fundraiser at the New York Public Library on Monday night, and she said then that she was introducing him “not as a journalist” but as a friend and then had laudatory things to say about him.
On Thursday afternoon, however, Bartiromo was covering her “friend” as a business news story when she interviewed former SEC chairman Harvey Pitt. When asked to respond to Waxman, Pitt said, “The notion of holding up a public offering is absurd. It reminds me a lot of Shakespeare’s quote ‘a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.’ If people want to invest in one of these funds, that’s their business.”
He concluded by saying that Congress can’t sell the SEC how to regulate the market. “It’s a very dangerous and pernicious precedent,” said Pitt.
To which Bartiromo replied: “Thank you so much, Harvey Pitt. I’ve got to take my journalism hat off for a minute, look at this as an observer and say I could not agree more.”
To watch the video of Bartiromo and Pitt, go here. Why does CNBC have Bartiromo covering a story that involves someone who is obviously a friend? She has lost all credibility when covering this story because she has made it obvious that Schwarzman is a personal acquaintance. She is making the channel look bad with her cozy relationship with another source.
As the business journalist who tipped me off to this said: “Will she ever put the hat back on?”
That would assume she had a journalism hat to begin with. She really is a pretty face, but a vapid shill for the very people she is supposed to scrutinize. And I understand she dissed some of her family in Bay Ridge.
Write-Offs: 06.22.07…
$$$ Maria took off her hat and got new hair. $$$ Securities (non) Valuation [Going Private] $$$ Stocks Stocks Stocks: A Week in Review 06-22-07 [Long or Short Capital] $$$ Wharton Picks Marketing Man for Dean’s Post [DealBook] $$$……
Dan Rather does the same thing. Mike Wallace has accepted all types of gratuities – free plane trips, free rooms, all sorts of gratuities. Seems somebody is a little jealous….hmmmmm?
Lazy journalism, looks like it was written by a jr. high nerd.
gene wiley
Interesting development indeed. May be she is planning an alternative career as Observer.:smile:
[...] Mika Brzezinski tore her script to pieces on the air and then put another one through a shredder yesterday morning when she was asked by her editors on MSNBC cable channel to lead the newscast with an item about Hilton.“Listen, I just don’t believe in covering that story, especially not as the lead story in a newscast when you have a day like today,â€? Brzezinski said on the air.Footage documenting her revolt is now making the rounds on the internet, and has since been viewed on the video exchange website YouTube more than 870,000 times.Hilton, a 26-year-old hotel chain heiress, was released from a Los Angeles jail on Tuesday after serving 23 days for driving with a suspended licence. Here’s the other story. Oh, the hell with this reporter stuff!Mark Lacter • Bio • EmailYup, it’s another Maria Bartiromo story, snagged by Chris Roush at Talking Biz News. Now, Money Honey followers might remember the CNBC anchor introducing Blackstone Group CEO Steve Schwarzman the other night as a “friend,” not a “journalist” (LABO). “Steve,” she gushed, “you’re a pioneer. There’s no other way to look at it. It’s all good.” OK, so she’s a fraud and a lamebrain (and quite deficient in grammar), but at least there’s no way CNBC would have her anywhere near the Blackstone IPO story, right? I mean… right? So Thursday afternoon she’s interviewing former SEC commissioner Harvey Pitt about the last-minute efforts by Rep. Henry Waxman to delay the Blackstone offering. Here’s what Pitt says:“The notion of holding up a public offering is absurd. It reminds me a lot of Shakespeare’s quote ‘a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.’ If people want to invest in one of these funds, that’s their business.â€?To which Bartiromo replied: “Thank you so much, Harvey Pitt. I’ve got to take my journalism hat off for a minute, look at this as an observer and say I could not agree more.” Say, when does Rupert Murdoch plan to start the Fox business channel? [...]
[...] At least I know I’m not buddy-buddy with my sources. That’s issue Maria Bartiromo is facing. And NBC, with its Paris Hilton interview disaster (really, do we need to hear anymore about this silly woman?). How can reporters be objective when thye’re hanging out with their sources? And is it impossible to get an interview without paying for it? We are so superficial. [...]
[...] she has been criticized for commenting about Blackrock CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a personal friend, on the air. Posted by Chris Roush [...]