Categories: OLD Media Moves

Biz media could be harder on Countrywide CEO

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs writes Friday that the business media has been a little too soft on home lender Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

Fuchs wrote, “But while Mozilo goes on his one-man campaign of self-interest, the business media need to do a better job of pointing out his long trail of inconsistencies. You, the savvy investor, need to be aware of the sort of contradictory things he has said and done in the past, lest you take too seriously the things he is saying and doing right now.

“How did CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo do Thursday? When the subject of Bank of America’sÂ $2 billion investment came up, Maria’s first reaction was to go warm and fuzzy, to flash back decades to when Mozilo and Countrywide got their very first, bouncing baby of a loan … a $75,000 job.

“Said Bartiromo, about how things have come full circle so beautifully: ‘This on a personal level must be incredible for you, this relationship…’

“Aww. … I could have sworn I even saw Mozilo blanch just a slightly paler shade of orange with surprise.”

Read more 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.