How Bartiromo’s stock has risen at Fox Business

Maria Bartiromo

Stephen Battaglio of the Los Angeles Times examines the success of Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo.

Battaglio writes, “With her pioneering role, Bartiromo said she has heard from many women who say she inspired them or their daughters to go into finance. But the anchor is especially proud of her ability to glean information from her sources at big investment firms and pass it along to the TV audience. ‘Viewers had that research at the same time that the big guys who paid a lot of money for it,’ she said. ‘I feel like I helped level the playing field for the individual investor.’

“After 20 years with CNBC, Bartiromo decided to move to Fox Business Network in 2013, where she was promised the opportunity to cover more than just the financial markets. ‘I needed to broaden my portfolio,’ she said. ‘I didn’t want to be the person on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange 30 years later saying, ‘Here’s what’s going on.’’ Having a supportive family gave her the courage to make the move. ‘I know that if something goes wrong I know that I’ll land on my Chanels,’ she said. ‘If not, I have my family.’ Five years later with her contract coming up, she would like to continue. ‘I love it here,’ she said.

“Bartiromo’s familiarity with the finance community over 25 years helps her draw the most upscale audiences in cable news — ‘Mornings With Maria’ viewers have a median income of $148,200, according to Nielsen data for 2018.”

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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.