Jim Cramer, whose in-your-face CNBC show “Mad Money” draws viewers ranging from college students to grandmothers, was profiled in this morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
Cramer is well known in business journalism, having founded TheStreet.com web site and appearing on CNBC for the past decade in various ways.
One of the interesting parts of the article is a critique of his show and whether it’s actually journalism.
The article describes Cramer this way: “Cramer, a 50-year-old balding, highly successful former hedge-fund manager whose persona owes more to Crazy Eddie or Sam Kinison than to Louis Rukeyser, may be business television’s most histrionic face. Mad Money, which started broadcasting in March, attracts 398,000 viewers daily. It is CNBC’s most popular show among viewers 25 to 54 years old.”
In addition, there’s this critique: “Critics, however, question Cramer. Barron’s columnist Alan Abelson has attacked his recommendations.
“Barbara Roper, director of the Consumer Federation of America, worries that even if Cramer’s advice is good, most investors are not sophisticated enough to use it.”
“‘There’s a lot in his message that I agree with in terms of the warnings he gives about the need to do careful research and the dangers of penny stocks,’ she said. ‘But I have some question about whether the sort of Joe Six-Pack audience that he seems to be trying to apppeal to has the wherewithal to do the research.'”
Read the entire piece here.
