Critic: CNBC beats Fox Business in covering banking hearings

Charles Warner, a former University of Missouri professor who now teaches media management at The New School, says CNBC did a better job than rival Fox Business Network of covering Wednesday’s Senate hearings on the Wall Street bailout.

Writing on Huffington Post, Warner stated, “Not that CNBC’s coverage was flawless, it fumbled the ball at least once while I was watching, but overall what I saw and heard on CNBC was far more intelligent, more knowledgeable, and graphically more relevant than the coverage on FBN.

“CBNC’s anchors and reporters were far more knowledgeable about the complexities of the financial crisis than those on FBN. I got the distinct impression that, in general, CNBC chose its on-air people based on their knowledge and expertise and FBN chose its on-air people based on their looks and personality. No big surprise here. Although, there was at least one anchor (in the morning) on FBN who was both attractive and seemed to know what she was talking about, but a couple of the male guests and FNB reporters on her segment were clueless.

“How do I know who is clueless and who isn’t about this unbelievably complex situation? Because I usually know when I listen to people if they are smarter than I am (which is usually the case). If someone knows about as much as I do about a subject, then I figure he or she is not that smart, so I go somewhere else to learn what I don’t know. So for two days I kept coming back to CNBC and leaving FBN.”

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