CNBC's Fast Money brings smack back to network

The New York Times’ Elizabeth Jensen wrote Monday about how CNBC is trying a show called “Fast Money” hosted by former Bloomberg reporter Dylan Ratigan that brings out some of the issues with broadcast business journalism that hurt the network’s reputation after the dot-com bubble burst.

Jensen wrote, “Later shows like the successful ‘Mad Money’ and ‘Fast Money’ appeal to a much more reactive kind of capitalist: the day trader who may not care about trade deficits and who just wants to pick stocks and get rich.

“This type of show is tricky for CNBC. In the day-trading era of the late 1990’s, the network was criticized for putting on many experts who wildly pushed stocks without providing analysis or skepticism.

“But network executives said that they had found a way to do such programming responsibly. ‘We’ve been very sensitive about wanting to do this the right way,’ said Jonathan Wald, who was named senior vice president of business news in June.

“The show’s premise, Mr. Ratigan said, is simply this: ‘The world goes round. Let’s turn it into money.’ As financial news has become a mere commodity, available everywhere, he said, CNBC has had to move away from simply presenting information.”

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