Why are CNBC’s ratings falling?

Terry Connelly, a former business school dean, writes on The Huffington Post that CNBC‘s declining ratings are due to being too pessimistic about the stock market.

Connelly writes, “In short, CNBC should be asking itself why on earth it continues to show such favoritism for the views of market pessimists and short sellers — indeed, even facilitating such traders profit strategies — at the expense of their retail TV audience.

“Maybe the hedge fund titans take the CNBC folks to some fancy lunches, or maybe they’re mostly just like Rick Santelli, who are heavily invested in their Tea Party political views and determined to impose them on its coverage patterns. But at the end of the day, why should anyone watch CNBC for actual market ‘news’ on finance and the economy when the network seems determined to turn off its audience with programming that just mimics the Fox News style and at best, helps only the short hedge fund crowd by scaring off retail investors just when the hedges want them to be scared?

“If viewers want pure unadulterated negativity, they can get that on the Fox channel.”

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