The big Jim Cramer / John Stewart showdown Thursday night was widely considered newsworthy. It was discussed on almost every blog, I read articles about it in The Washington Post and The New York Times, etc. And the news divisions of the General Electric Corporation had found earlier iterations of the feud newsworthy, featuring Cramer on various segments on MSNBC and the NBC-distributed Martha Stewart show. But after Cramer proved unable to defend himself, the GE suits ordered their subordinates to put corporate ass-covering over their jobs as journalists and they all merrily hopped along agreeing not to highlight the interview.
But via Amanda Terkel, we see that not everyone at CNBC is happy with Cramer’s performance:
Cramer has told colleagues he felt blindsided by Stewart’s hostile approach. But many CNBC staffers were furious with Cramer yesterday for failing to defend the network’s reporting or to criticize Stewart’s video clips as selectively edited or out of context. CNBC declined all interview requests, saying in a statement: “CNBC produces more than 150 hours of live television a week that includes more than 850 interviews in the service of exposing all sides of every critical financial and economic issue. We are proud of our record.”
The fact that they’re proud of their record tells you about what you need to know about them. Genuine snake oil salesman are just trying to make money. CNBC producers seem to have gotten so twisted around that they think selling snake oil is genuinely virtuous.