In case you missed it, Dennis Kneale from CNBC called out the Zero Hedge blog tonight on the air. Zero Hedge’s response can be found here.
I’m not sure what is more strange: Dennis Kneale, “Media and Technology Editor for CNBC’s Business Day programming,” stating the recession is over, or CNBC contacting an anonymous blogger to meet with them on air?
First, Mr. Kneale is no economist. He holds a degree in journalism from the University of Florida. While he may be great at entertaining an audience, I do not see any credentials that would point to him being an expert, or even an authority, on the economy.
Secondly, Zero Hedge’s lead blogger has been adamantly anonymous from the very beginning. Even with the anonymity, Zero Hedge has well over 10,000 readers subscribed to their feed and has received almost 7 million visitors since January of this year. It makes one wonder if CNBC is not a tad envious of the traffic, to the extent that they would give such a platform to an anonymous blogger who was a week earlier still harnessing the free Google .blogspot domain to host his reporting.
The point is, if CNBC were actually bringing sound financial journalism to the investing public, Zero Hedge would have no raison d’etre. This battle of celebrity versus reality has done nothing except highlight how the majority of media outlets are already obselete. Nothing makes that more clear than CNBC parading their Media and Technology guy out to vociferously proclaim what hundreds of actual economists are still debating. It is not about facts; it is about entertainment. And it may be entertaining if this sort of appeal to authority, or appeal to celebrity as it were, did not carry the consequence of the loss of personal wealth for those who listen.
As this divide between celebrity and reality becomes greater by the day, Dennis Kneale and CNBC are hoping or even praying that there is a bubble in the financial blogosphere. If the bubble is not soon pricked, both will discover that when financial news requires celebrity in order to be presented, it is not really news at all, only entertainment.
As Zero Hedge and other anonymous bloggers have made painfully obvious for CNBC, celebrity is not what people are buying.
Our local (non-financial) TV has a segment “what viewers Twittered” or something like that. They’re pinning their hopes on Web 2.0 + crowd sourcing.
I’m already getting tired of these web sites f*ckmylife, mylastsms(?), thisiswhyyourefat etc. All they want is a book deal. They’re like reality TV for the web, and reality shows is why I stopped watching TV.
Everyone seems to want to exploit the others and we end up with these recycled ideas.
A lot of my friends work in TV and in general, they’re pretty bored with what they produce. Even the ones in their 20’s-30’s. Very cynical. The motto is “it’s good who it’s good for”.
Rant!! 😀
Rant on Phanta.
The problem I see, and the reason why it should be different with media like CNBC, is that it is not a game.
I think it’s the equity research report biz/analysts that should be worried, IMO.
True, but they do not often present themselves as such large targets for outrage…
They are terrible too, but CNBC is worse, no doubt. Zero hedge did a phenomenal job (as they frequently do) of making CNBC looking childish, antagonistic and biased. Futhermore, the emails show their whole raison d’etre is to instigate with inflammatory descriptions of the show like “let dennis have it.” Obviously they wanted they were going to frame it, to the extent that they could, that ZH was a crazy person who shouldn’t be listened to. Instead, with the “no show” the viewers will see his careful written response. Truly great.
Well said, Shed. Couple of thoughts for you, random:
– Speed. TV is so slow and linear to me. I do not want to wait through the commercial break, for the next segment, or the scheduled show. I want it now. I want it fast. I want it fresh. I want it four ways and raw. That’s what she said.
– Tools: I wonder what my dad would have achieved had he had the tools I have, for free, on the web. Hell, stockcharts.com alone would have revolutionized his trading. And he was no slouch. CNBC could roll up these tools on their site, embed the video content, live breaking news via audio or txt alerts. iBC will do it first!
– Content: CNBC could regain credibility by hiring true journalists, not the ilk of Kneale. If the content is compelling, I’ll watch. Instead, it is all pablum. Bread and circuses. Hire the dude that wrote the Rolling Stone piece. Even that Joey Bagodoughnuts guy who used to break the stories during the ’08 crisis had a scoop. Get the scoop. Get the content.
– Fresh: TV people are old. They don’t get it. Many parallels to the music industry. For another day.
– Truth: Gatekeepers, like CNBC, have no credibility. The guy at zero hedge has credibility. Why? He doesn’t want something trite like fame. He is anon. His site is free. He is in it for the love! He is in it for the truth. This is why I like Fly so much, especially when he wears his “I have cracked the wallstreet code, and I am going to share it with you leeches” hat. His voice is strongest then. Robin Hood shit.
Ok, I’m tired. Just some reactions for you.
PS – did you send the CD? Haven’t seen it yet.
Boom, I gave strict instructions to the group on how to get the CD to you. In fact, it should be delivered with a hand-written note from me.
I can’t imagine why they haven’t sent it, except that they are on tour.
No prob. Looking forward hearing it.
Excellent points. Fuck CNBC.
Denninger has a good post on this topic as well, even though he was not called out specifically:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1175-To-Dennis-Kneale-Youre-An-Idiot.html
(I did get a chuckle out how he (Kneale) tried to make fun of one of the sites he mentioned because it ended in a ‘z’. What a douche.)
DP, Denninger has a fairly substantial error in that post. I have written a post which corrects his mistake. It will be posted at 8:00 a.m. in the morning. I’m surprised he allowed such an error to occur, because if Kneale finds it, Denninger will be cannon fodder.
eh…considering how feeble Dennis Kneale’s attempt was at trying to ‘go after’ the anonymous bloggers (“somebody-on-the-internet-called-me-a-retard…MOMMY…waaaeeh”), I don’t think Denninger has much to fear…
CNBC is trying to decredit Z Hedge’s run at the SEC (his petition drive for accountability and change) before it snowballs
fuck, discredit. nyar
Look, this is a move on the part of CNBC to INCREASE their ratings. The more attention that is paid to DK, as well as the other circus geeks, the better CNBC is–they get paid for viewers, whereas most bloggers generally do not. If you read the emails sent to ZH, you will notice that even the producer of the show knows DK is a jerk and his intent is to create an “event”.
The best tactic is for the experts that exist in the blogosphere to ignore the noise of DK and others and move on. In a Skinnerian sense we are reinforcing their bad behavior. Let Jim Cramer remain as their sole draw.
On the other hand, participating in the farce does drive traffic to the blogs as well. I can only imagine the hit-boost that ZH got yesterday…
Dan Dorfman was the best thing that CNBC ever had. Too bad he had a stroke and can’t appear on TV anymore. They need to find his replacement, someone (sort of like Herb Greenberg) who can ruffle a lot of feathers like Dan used to do.
I have often wondered if the nice people from CNBC benefit directly from some of the statements they make….