The problem with CNBC's journalism

Maureen Tkacik writes for the May/June issue of Columbia Journalism Review about business news network CNBC and argues that it disappoints so many people because it solely focuses on “actionable” items that people can use to buy or sell stocks.

Tkacik writes, “On CNBC, information is still an ‘asset,’ and CNBC would not be unloading all these assets on you if they were not, to use the network’s most cherished term, ‘actionable.’ CNBC would not be waking up at 5 a.m. to check the Nikkei and taking calls on four separate cell phones at every commercial break and elbowing its way through the trading pit to catch the 5 p.m. shuttle to Washington if it had any doubts as to the sincerity of your intention to take action.

“On jobs-report Friday, reporter Scott Wapner begins a segment from the Nasdaq Market Site this way: ‘One of the best things about living in New York and working here too is that you never know who you’re gonna bump into on the street.’ Potentially actionable information still lurks around every busy street corner!

“Wapner had just had a chat with Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of the nearby New York Times Company, whose stock was hovering around $4 a share at the time. Sulzberger tells Wapner the company will not rule out charging people to read the paper on the Internet. ‘I asked ‘Just how bad is it out there. Is it the worst you’ve ever seen?” Wapner concludes his segment, pausing briefly. ‘He told me, ‘I’m not that old, so yes, this is the worst I’ve ever seen.'”

Read more here.