'Reliable Sources' guests discuss Bartiromo

Howard Kurtz, the media reporter for the Washington Post and host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” had a panel of journalists discuss the ethics of CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo accepting a plane ride on the Citigroup corporate jet on Sunday.

Here are some of the comments:

EMILY ROONEY, HOST, “BEAT THE PRESS,” WGBH: I don’t know. That one makes me very uncomfortable.

For one thing, why were the other executives booted off the flight if it was a group meeting and she was there to develop some programming? Why — why was it — we’re assuming now that they were alone. That’s sort of the way the story has come out. So I’d say I feel uncomfortable about it.

DAVID CARR, MEDIA COLUMNIST, “THE NEW YORK TIMES”: Well, when we see CNBC has reimbursed Citigroup for the costs, they paid for half of what it cost to fly a chartered jet back? I don’t think so. They paid a commercial fare and left it at that, and that seems to be a significant gratuity.

FRANK AHRENS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT WRITER, “THE WASHINGTON POST”: Right, that’s exactly the case. The price of a commercial ticket is much, much lower than that of a private jet.

Listen, I mean, part of Maria’s job is to promote CNBC for the network. The question is, within what boundaries?

MORE ROONEY: You know, it’s so interesting. I was thinking about this, this week, also, because nobody used to cover business. That was — it was only in the last couple of decades that business news has become really in the forefront. And now it’s sort of in the same genre as sports, and that is that you really have to get close to your subjects in order to cover them, and then these cozy relationships develop.

I think it’s different than any other kind of reporting, different than political reporting, different from any other — so just that sense that you have to get an intimate relationship going. And that’s what happened with her.

Read the rest of the transcript here.