NBC - TV BOSSES DEFEND CRAMER, STEWART

TV BOSSES DEFEND CRAMER, STEWART

NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker came to the defense of CNBC financial commentator Jim Cramer Wednesday -- immediately found himself accused of being out of touch with public sentiment. Delivering a keynote talk at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York, Zucker said that Daily Show host Jon Stewart was "completely out of line" and "totally unfair" in his attacks on Cramer and CNBC and was trying to make Cramer into a "scapegoat." Zucker quickly set the blogs ablaze. Charles Cooper on CNET News commented "Instead of circling the wagons, Zucker and his management team should take a long look at the content CNBC puts out. A public skewering was long overdue. ... Note to the Zuck-meister The fact that you don't get what Stewart's talking about is yet one more reason to worry about the future of the mainstream media." Later in the day at the same conference that heard from Zucker, Viacom chief Philippe Dauman defended Stewart. "He has a connection with the zeitgeist," Dauman said. "His common-man sensibility is the reason it got so much attention. He is one of the few people on the air who spoke to what people were really feeling."

19/03/2009