Media News

Why CNBC’s Pisani thinks of who’s watching

Bob Pisani

Russell Sherman of the “Press Profiles” podcast interviewed CNBC senior markets analyst Bob Pisani about his career.

Pisani has reported from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for 26 years. And he likes to report based on what he thinks typical viewers want to know because he believes it makes his coverage more informative.

“When I first started in 1990 at CNBC, I was staring into this black camera, and I could figure out who was watching,” says Pisani. “I had a lot of problems with this because I like to know who I was talking to.” So he focused on a specific person — a mother of two in Minneapolis looking to buy a house — and started defining terms such as mortgage-based securities.

“I still think about certain kinds of viewers,” adds Pisani. With markets coverage, he thinks of someone who watches the market but doesn’t do day trading.

“I just find that talking to a viewer out there who is representative of a generic viewer is helpful,” says Pisani.

To listen, go here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

10 mins ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

32 mins ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

43 mins ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

58 mins ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

2 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

2 hours ago