OLD Media Moves

Now CNBC's turn for Fortune treatment

March 26, 2008

The Jossip web site reports Wednesday that Fortune magazine is working on an in-depth story about business news cable network CNBC, just months after new rival Fox Business Network graced the cover.

Fox Business in FortuneJossip reports, “When that article hit, Kevin Goldman (then the VP of CNBC publicity and a former Wall Street Journal report) fired off an angry three-page letter to Fortune’s editors, we’re told, complaining about the rival network receiving such gratuitous coverage just out of the gate and demanding ‘better treatment’ for CNBC.

“Now, it could be argued, Fortune is offering a make good: The GE finance network is set to receive its own lauding coverage in the magazine.

“We’re told Jessi Hempel is penning the piece and, according to cable industry sources she spoke with, promised the article will be ‘extremely positive.’ After all, relays a source, Hempel says she was ‘told to write a positive piece about CNBC’ and has declared she’s a fan of CNBC chief Mark Hoffman.

“When asked about the situation, Fortune chief Andy Serwer responded in a statement: ‘This article is an in-depth snapshot of CNBC, the only one that has been written in the last 5 years, with the kind of reporting, fact-checking and honesty that readers have come to expect from Fortune.'”

Read more here.

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