Bartiromo in the Hot Seat

Another digression before we get to the next round of Big Media vs. GooTube...   

Landon Thomas of the NYT has weighed in on the Money Honey Scandal, noting that in addition to a Shanghai-NY private jet ride at Citigroup's behest, Maria also enjoyed a Ferrari ride, and that another CNBC reporter, Charles Gasparino, may have had a sock stuffed in his mouth as he attempted to report on some of this stuff.  CNBC has defended Maria and denies gagging Gasparino, and Maria herself has wisely avoided comment. 

If nothing else, the scandal has allowed a planet-full of media organizations to run Maria's picture, resulting in the predictable spike in readership (Landon's story rocketed to No. 1 on the Times' most emailed business stories this morning).  It has also rekindled a debate about what is and isn't appropriate for journalists to do as they cozy up to potential sources.

As with other conflict-of-interest scandals, there is often an element of Puritanism in the Maria coverage (though not Landon's)--the implicit idea that journalists should live in hermetically sealed bubbles or else risk losing their "objectivity."  Usually missing is the acknowlegement that no journalist is ever truly "objective".  Every decision about what to report, how to report it, which sources to listen to, which sources to ignore, and even which words to choose (the difference between "he said" and "he claimed" is enormous) compromises objectivity.  This is not to say that journalists should trade good coverage for suitcases full of cash or midnight visits from the "Pussy Patrol," as a sleazy film critic on Entourage does.  It is, however, to suggest that we should probably get less enamored with the word "objective" and just settle for "fair."

Did Maria's accepting private-jet and Ferrari rides from Citigroup cross the line?  Did spending the 14 hours at 40,000 feet alone (presumably) with a senior Citigroup executive cross the line?  At the very least, it probably made Maria less eager to recklessly bash Citigroup.  This in itself, however, is not necessarily a bad thing.   The most objectivity-compromising influence on most journalists is not sources but readers and viewers--specifically, the need to tell a compelling story or else be ignored.  So strong relationships on the source side can in some cases mean more objective coverage. 

Ultimately, perception aside, the question here is not whether Maria's close relationship with Citigroup (and the senior executive) "affected her coverage"--EVERYTHING affects coverage.  Ultimately the question is whether the relationship prevented her from telling a story that otherwise should have been told.  At this point, anyway, Maria seems to be the only one in a position to address that.

Comments

[tom levine]

A digression on your digression re: Maria Bartiromo....isn't the $64,000 question, which everyone seems to be tip-toeing around, whether or not that are (were) sleeping together? It's a little odd, and even more perverse (to me)if they are not because it then goes to show just how much they are (were) really using each other for their mutual benefit.
TOM

[Neal S. Lachman]

1) Reporters always flirt with their interviewees, while I am not certain whether the interviewee is really interested. I guess it depends on how his/her "mood" is. I remember that Omar Shariff (the Egyptian actor) was thought to have a child with a woman who's job was to interview him. Nice interview! And wasn't Mitterrand (Pres of France) also caught in a state of interview/sex up?

2) Objectivity is relative to "mission" and "purpose"

3) Who cares anyway? If investors get their information/know-how/data from TV celebrity business reporters and quicky shows, they are wrong. Who said media is objective and neutral?

King Troll, Get a freaking life man.

[Internet Inside-her]

Maria is hot, so she's not guilty.

[walt]

Any man that spent that much time, money and effort on Maria and was not trying to get some, would be, by default, gay.

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