Rhody Trader

Barry Ritholtz recently started a discussion about financial television and what needs to be done to make it better. Adam at the Daily Options Report, among others, picked up the thread and added his own thoughts. I’m not going to run through all of what Barry pointed out, but there are a couple of gripes I agree with.

First off, the talking over each other part is something I can’t stand. I’m probably going sound crotchety here, but basic good manners dictates that you don’t interupt someone else when they are talking. It’s plain rude, and it certainly doesn’t help the viewer/listener at all since the result is usually that you can’t hear either person.

Secondly, I’m all for healthy debate, but straight up conflict is something I don’t tolerate particularly well. It’s a waste. I understand that for a while there CNBC had a producer who leaned in that direction. That was the time of the octabox and the hosts intentionally making stupid inflamatory comments or asking inane questions. Things have gotten better since that producer left a few months back.

Third, if you have someone good on, give them enough time to explain their views. Bloomberg seems to do this better than CNBC, with longer interview segments, though the “guest host” thing CNBC does helps.

One last thing I’d toss in here is more along the lines of social commentary.

It would be really nice if when CNBC runs segments talking about politics or things related to government policy that every once in a while they included a black commentator who was in opposition to Obama in some fashion. I can’t remember a time when when there was a black face and a white face on the screen that the former wasn’t generally supportive of the administration and the white one in opposition. For the sake of social harmony, can we mix that up a bit so it’s not quite so much a black/white thing?

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