THE BASIS POINT

Open Letter To Recently Departed CNBC Frontman Dylan Ratigan

 

Dear Dylan: I read about your fiery departure from CNBC, and that’s the only way I would have heard about it because I stopped watching CNBC around January 2008.

CNBC had been a critical part of my all-day regimen for 13 years, but I stopped watching because CNBC turned into your typical shouting-match cable news network not long after the credit crisis began in August 2007. Larry Kudlow and Jim Cramer always set a certain general level of hysteria but even they had their place. But then, as my theory goes, CNBC was dragged down into this populist abyss in a desperate effort to compete with FoxBusiness when it launched October 2007.

Losing a steady voice like Liz Claman to FoxBusiness wasn’t such a big deal because CNBC kept stalwarts like Bill Griffeth and Sue Herrera. And you got your chance to shine. You were a guy who easily helmed the prime market hours of CNBC even if FastMoney was a blowhard show. You’ve always been great with holding guests to task—and not in a staged look-we’re-being-hardcore kind of way—and strong on your research.

You were the new school precisely because you were of the old school, having been trained at Bloomberg which is just a research and report outfit. Not the blowhard, shouting match, utterly unwatchable and un-credible network CNBC has become as it has tried to capture the mainstream audience along with FoxBusiness.

So as you evaluate new options, I am sure there are many but as I see it, they basically fall into two camps: (1) extreme consumerism, which you’ve proven you can do, (2) smart, actual financial news for financial professionals.

It’s possible there’s more money in the former, but this letter is to ask you nicely to go for the latter. It suits you better, and you’ve earned the respect. I am sure the money is pretty good too. So go back to Bloomberg or do some broadcast venture with an existing print publication that needs to branch out. If you go to FoxBusiness, I can’t say I won’t rip on you for it. But then again, I wouldn’t bother watching.

Sincerely,
A financial professional raised on CNBC, and now only watches Bloomberg

 

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