No cat fight at CNBC

Suzanna Andrews of Vanity Fair interviews CNBC anchors Maria Bartiromo and Erin Burnett and comes away convinced that the two stars are not feuding, as has been suggested in gossip columns.

Andrews writes, “Both of them, though, think the idea of a rivalry between them is particularly absurd, considering the on-air bitchfest among their male colleagues. Viewers at CNBC are regularly treated to screaming matches. Charlie Gasparino dressing down fellow correspondent Dennis Kneale during the Eliot Spitzer scandal: ‘You’re not Client No. 1, right?’ Kneale, voice shaking, shouts back: ‘I’d like an on-air apology. Show some class.’ Viewers have yet to see Maria and Erin hack at each other like that. ‘Oh my God, that is so true,’ says Maria, bursting into laughter.

“There are some who believe that the rumors of a feud between Bartiromo and Burnett were started either by a disgruntled former CNBC employee or someone at Fox Business Network, or perhaps someone who falls into both categories, mainly because so many items about their rivalry have appeared in the New York Post, which, like FBN, is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

“Bartiromo and Burnett, however, have their own suspicions about who may have started the rumors. ‘Erin and I have spoken about this,’ says Bartiromo, ‘and I just think that we both feel like, well, maybe at the end of the day someone is doing this, planting this, because it puts more attention on the network.’ Asked if she means executives at CNBC, she smiles and says nothing. CNBC roundly denies this, but it sort of makes sense.”

Read more here.