Skip the first 12 minutes of Bartiromo's special on Google, watch the rest

Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times critiques the CNBC special on Google, which will air for the first time Thursday night, noting that the reporting by anchor Maria Bartiromo is soft during the first 12 minutes before she turns into a “real journalist.”

Genzlinger writes, “If you were to watch the insufferably cloying first segment, you’d never make it to the later parts, where the program gets to matters that should concern all of us.

“Ms. Bartiromo begins with an exceedingly gushy tour of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., sounding as if she’s on the payroll of the company’s public-relations department. Such amazing cafeterias! Such wonderful employee perks! Such incredibly smart people everywhere!

“It’s the kind of mush that makes you go channel surfing, especially the endless prattle about how smart everyone at Google is. Lots of businesses are full of smart people. Some of them are laying those smart people off because their business models have been undercut by Google. Newspapers, for instance.

“This first segment is also where Ms. Bartiromo lets the Google barons spin out their promotional patter. For instance Eric Schmidt, the chief executive, talks about fostering a creative environment for his employees.”

Read more here.