Review of new CNBC talk show featuring German host

The International Herald Tribune had a review of the new CNBC show featuring German host Sabine Christiansen, below, in the Sunday paper. It concluded that this was part of the business news network’s attempts to expand its coverage beyond just business topics and noted that the first guest on the show was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Andreas Tzortzis writes, “In addition to being enamored of Christiansen’s impressive list of influential people, CNBC executives also see the show as a way to diversify programming that focuses almost exclusively on business and financial news.

“‘She’s incredibly popular,’ Mick Buckley, president and managing director of CNBC Europe, said in an interview. ‘She also has, among opinion-formers globally, a strong reputation.’

“It was Jeffrey Immelt, chief executive of General Electric, which owns NBC, who first approached Christiansen about taking her show to a broader international audience.

“Fluent in English, she still seems to be adjusting to doing political talk in a second language. Buckley added: ‘This is the intersection between politics and economics. It’s giving our viewers a diverse debate.’

“Whether Christiansen makes the most of her time with her guests is a matter of contention in Germany. Media journalists used to enjoy teasing Christiansen about her first career choice, as a flight attendant for Lufthansa in the early 1980s. As she completed her steady rise through the ranks of ARD and created her show seven years ago, the joking turned to serious criticism as frustrated political reporters accused her of being too soft on her guests.”

Read the article here.