Categories: OLD Media Moves

Francis said CNBC tried to stifle criticism

Fox Business Network anchor Melissa Francis said on the air Friday that CNBC executives reprimanded her for criticizing President Barack Obama on the air.

Emily Smith of the New York Post writes, “Francis, now an anchor on Fox Business Network, said on air Friday that liberal media, including NBC and ABC, helped the architects of ObamaCare ‘cover up the truth . . . I pointed out to my [CNBC] viewers that the math of ObamaCare simply didn’t work . . . And when I did that, I was silenced . . . I was told that I was ‘disrespecting the office of the president’ by telling what turned out to be the absolute truth.’

“A CNBC rep said, ‘That’s laughable, but we take notice, because as the fastest-growing network in prime time, we’re always on the lookout for high quality comedy writers and actresses.'”

Read more here. Francis responded to CNBC’s comments on a Fox News show on Sunday, which can be seen 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.