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One might expect an interview with a television business anchor to focus on the state of the economy, the world of business, or the anchor’s own business experiences. More unusual are questions like these:
“Jim Cramer. He’s really hot. Do you agree?”
“What are you wearing today?”
“Your hair has been a big story, who does your hair?”
So went the grilling that New York Daily News business writer Phyllis Furman inflicted on CNBC business anchor Maria Bartiromo in an interview printed by the paper yesterday.
In a way, we sympathize with Furman. CJR Daily has dealt with the Pravda-like PR departments at the cable news networks, and we know that they make sure that answers to interview questions are so overly vetted and polished that it’s tempting for a journalist to give up and ask the most outrageously inane questions she can think of. Still, in the piece we learn little, beyond a few “hot stories” Bartiromo sees percolating, about her views on the contemporary business scene or how these issues might best be covered.
Given all this, there’s not a hint of irony in Furman’s questions. And we wonder whether drivel like this would end up in a story about, say, Lou Dobbs or Jim Cramer himself. We also wonder what, even by the lowbrow standards of the Daily News’ back pages, makes Maria Bartiromo in any way interesting or newsworthy.
For crying out loud, she’s not even missing in Aruba.
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