Debating Burnett vs. Bartiromo

Conde Nast Portfolio’s Claire Atkinson has a story on the magazine’s web site that assesses CNBC‘s rising star in Erin Burnett vs. the entrenched star in Maria Bartiromo.

Atkinson wrote, “Whether Burnett will eclipse Bartiromo is yet to be seen. But it’s hard to argue Burnett’s considerable bona fides. A former mergers and acquisitions investment-banking analyst with Goldman Sachs, Burnett got her entrée to TV journalism after writing a fan letter to former CNN anchor Willow Bay, who hired her as an assistant. She later became a writer and booker for the likes of Lou Dobbs and Fox News’ Stuart Varney before departing to CitiMedia/Citigroup to launch an in-house news network as a vice president. There she interviewed thousands of business executives and realized she loved it. ‘I had my eureka moment there,’ she says.

“With her trademark giraffe-print wrap dresses and puffy-sleeved Tory Burch blouses, Burnett cuts a conspicuous figure on both CNBC and the New York Stock Exchange (where Squawk on the Street is taped). Having her own show, Street Signs, she says, is a huge opportunity. ‘It gives me a chance to have on people who are insightful about what’s going on. I like to focus on C.E.O.’s and get a real in-depth interview,’ she says. Burnett has done exactly that. Among her on-air gets was an interview with Citigroup C.O.O. Bob Druskin, whom she got to comment about a set of huge layoffs the company had not yet made public….”

“Says Burnett: ‘Longer term, I’d love to have a format where movers and shakers could talk, people who the world cares about; C.E.O.’s, presidents, and Angelina Jolie. It’s not Larry King, it’s more Charlie Rose with high energy for the new generation.'”

Read more here.Â