Categories: OLD Media Moves

CNBC's Santelli appears on get-rich investment ad

Ryan Chittum of Columbia Journalism Review takes issue with CNBC reporter Rick Santelli appearing on an investment program advertisement.

Chittum writes, “Now this is hardly the biggest deal, but Santelliâ€™s appearance at the seminar and in its marketing raises some obvious questions, which I put to CNBC spokesman Brian Steel. If Santelli got paid for his appearance, for instance, that would be problematic, to say the least, since journalists shouldnâ€™t take money from organizations involved in their areas of coverage.

“Steel told me CNBC policy prohibits its journalists from ‘accept(ing) appearance or speaking fees to participate in for profit seminars or conferences nor are they allowed to accept speaking or appearance fees to attend events sponsored by for profit companies or companies that engage in lobbying activities.’ He says Santelli wasnâ€™t paid for his appearance.

“When asked if Santelliâ€™s appearance was vetted by CNBC and if it approves of its reporters appearing at events like this, Steel said he doesnâ€™t comment on internal discussions.”

Read more here. After Chittum contacted CNBC, the investor began removing Santelli from his Web site and marketing.

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Lynne says:
July 15, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Rick Santelli spoke at the seminar to educate young ppl on how news affects the markets. His intensions were honorable and he was not paid.I guess no good deed goes unpunished! If Columbia Review would have bothered to research the facts, they would have found that Larry Levin (seller of the trading dvd in question)had no authorization to use Rick,s appearance on his get rich dvd.I really think it's terrible that this so-called media watchdog is guilty of character assassination via innuendo and lazy research. Isn,t that what this organization is suppose to be protecting us from?! If this trash is the best this school of journalism has to offer, I guess we would all be better off getting our facts from the Enquirer! Furthermore, any legitamate school of jouralism would print a retraction, and apologize to Mr.Santelli.(Larry Levin did, I know this because...I DID MY RESEARCH!!!)