Ted, thanks for participating on our thread.
I would like to ask you a few questions about Silicon Investor as a competitor of CNBC.
1. Where do you place Silicon Investor versus CNBC as competitors in terms both of information reporting and investment advice? I would offer my own experience that I can ask you questions, interact with Michael Burke, a veteran mutual fund manager of the highest quality, or Earlie, an excellent newsletter writer, here. I also have recently communicated at length with Bill Meehan of Cantor Fitzgerald. I can address James Cramer if it suits me. I find that I can associate with a group of people of the very highest quality, certainly competitive with your guests and in much greater depth analyze their thinking and ask direct questions and get direct answers. On CNBC often guests are reduced to a sentence or two of buy-sell-hold logic. I would critique generally that the fine grain qualitative measures of risk are usually lacking in your rapid fire environment. Also, any issues of portfolio management and financial planning take place almost always at a novice level on CNBC. In terms of pure news, I can find news more quickly on the internet that pertain to my specific investment interests, and with the SI community, I find that I have a host of fellow posters that are additional eyes that know what news I am interested in hearing and forward that information to me.
2. How often do you report on the development of the extremely high quality of discussion that goes on among investors on forums such as Silicon Investor on your programs?
3. What way do you see CNBC evolving to incorporate more interactive elements that the internet offers?
4. In terms of the debate of your viewership...You make the point that you are an objective journalist. I would agree that you are among the most objective on CNBC. I find that some of your fellow journalists seem to be more cheerleaders. But my real point in this area is to point out that a significant measure of your programming is presenting people that have one form or another of investment advice to present. They are selling their companies, their mutual funds, their investment services. As I stated earlier, the depth of thinking that many offer is thin. I would say regular squawk box guests such as Cramer, form a good counterpoint as be repeatedly having longer sessions, a viewer can learn more about where such a person is coming from.
The point I would like to submit is that if more in depth investors are turning to other media both print and interactive, it may be the least sophisticated investors that you lose in a market downturn. My experience is that most of the posters here on SI look to CNBC to see what is being said to the "masses". Much more in depth analysis goes on here. Many of the SI type viewer has CNBC playing in the background while they do their own research. I suggest it might be the novice that gets buy-sell-hold advice from CNBC that might be driven from your viewership by a drop to 6500. Comments?
Thanks in advance. |
