Well see, You just demonstrated how bias they are
This remark amazes me. What happened this morning with the President's speech was a little gem of a TV moment. It is an example of how great TV can be when all the right elements are in place. The President delivers a speech citing the failed tax policies of the 80's. Mark Haines, the moderator of Squawk Box, cuts off the President and hands the microphone to Larry Kudlow. It so happens that Kudlow was a member of the team which developed those "failed" policies. He is also an articulate spokesman for the economic policies of the Reagan years, he has lots of TV experience, and he is a Wall Street professional who speaks the language of the CNBC audience. He was the perfect person, in the perfect place, at the perfect time to provide a counterpoint to the President's remarks. And you can rest assured that Haines knew full well what was going to happen when he turned the mike over to Kudlow. Larry then proceeded to rebut what the President said point by point. I happen to be more sympathetic to the Clinton point of view than the Kudlow point of view, but I think that Larry came out the winner on this exchange. But more importantly, we were actually witnesses to a 2-3 minute exchange that shed light on an important issue facing our country.
We could devote a whole separate thread to the issue of journalistic bias, whether it really exists, and whether it damages the coverage of the news in our country. (Personally, I think the bias issue is overdone, but that's my own bias <g>). However, I am completely at a loss as to how the coverage of the President's speech this morning could be used as an example of bias of any kind.
Furthermore, I believe this type of reaction illustrates a recurring problem which threatens to destroy this thread. And I don't mean to single you out, sandintoes, you are far from the worst offender. An effective critique is not knee jerk naysaying to everything which upsets one's own, if you will, biases. It seems that this thread is moving away from criticism and towards vitriol. I believe that in the past we've had an impact for the better on CNBC programming. Did anyone catch Maria B. yesterday explaining why she spends so much time talking about AOL from the floor of the exchange? You can believe her explanation, or not, but it is clear that she is now aware of this issue and is sensitive to it. I believe this thread can take the credit for that. However, I'm doubtful that we'll continue to have that type of effect in the future. We seem to have driven away the one CNBC employee who spent a lot of time monitoring this thread. As things stand now, I'm not sure anyone from CNBC will want to spend time here. And that would be a shame. |
