NBC CEO Jeff Zucker: Jon Stewart Was “Incredibly Unfair” to CNBC
by Peter Kafka
Posted on March 18, 2009 at 7:50 AM PT
Hard to imagine that NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker spends a lot of time thinking about “The Daily Show” critique of CNBC. But when he sat down for a Q&A this morning with BusinessWeek’s Ellen Pollock, that was topic A.
For the record, Zucker thinks that “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart was out of line when he launched a multiweek campaign against CNBC in general and Jim Cramer in particular. But Zucker had his own target during this morning Q&A: The U.S. newspaper industry.
Over and over again, Zucker explained NBC’s decisions about Web distribution, prime-time programming or any other issue by announcing that he was willing to embrace change–and that he wasn’t going to hide from it, as the newspapers have.
Sample quote, while explaining NBC’s decision to move Jay Leno to 10 p.m. and essentially concede the prime-time ratings race: “Too many media organizations, particularly print, particularly newspapers, weren’t willing to question the model.” And here’s another one, when he was talking about changing TV viewing habits among kids: If NBC doesn’t embrace change, he said, “we will become the Rocky Mountain News, and we will become the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.”
Want more? I took notes on the Q&A live during the event. To view them, click the “Play” button on the box at the bottom of this post.
NBC Universal CEO is speaking with BusinessWeek’s Ellen Pollock, who I’m sure will at least be able to get him to crack a bigger smile than the one he’s got on the mug shot above.
Zucker’s in an interesting place right now: For much of 2008, he had to defend his unit’s performance (it missed its quarterly goals twice) and insist that it was really unlikely that parent company GE (GE) would sell off NBC altogether. But now that GE’s finance arm is in disarray, NBC looks comparatively healthy.
Hoping we’ll hear about Hulu, Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes, the rival Web/cable access plans proposed by Comcast (CMCSA), Time Warner (TWX) and Time Warner Cable (TWC).
I’m going to try liveblogging the event with a tool I’ve enjoyed using on other sites, from Coveritlive.com. Let me know how it works for you, either in comments below or via email.
Comments
“totally” unfair.
Posted by Dave Barnes at March 18th, 2009 at 7:39 amOh my, a satirist who is not fair.
Perhaps Jeff should read some Swift to gain a broader perspective.
Or. Mad Magazine.
sorry, totally unfair my ass.
live by the sword, die by the sword.
Cramer gets props for coming on the show, but he also deserved every bit of that… and CNBC even more so.
comment of the evening by Stewart in response to Cramer suggesting they do “Fast Money” because there’s a market for it: “… well there’s a market for Cocaine & Hookers too!!!”
‘zactly.
Posted by dave mcclure at March 18th, 2009 at 8:38 amI have to agree with the other commenters. John Stewart was dead on. As a journalist myself, it really felt good to have Stewart take on CNBC and their cozy relationship with the big wigs Cramer kept whining about as having lied to him.
Oh, no! Someone in business LIED? Say it isn’t so. When I used to cover the local Chamber of Commerce in the town where I worked for nine years, I used to joke about walking in and waiting for the first person to lie to me.
And this nonsense about newspapers is really funny. Wall Street discovered newspapers as a source of revenue they could squeeze until they failed. And that’s exactly what they have done to them. Newspapers played a large role in their own demise for sure, but Wall Street is by and large responsible for the destruction of the newspaper industry. Glad I got out when the getting was good.
Ben Bagdikian saw it coming long before it happened, and wrote about it in the mid-80s with his book “Media Monopoly.”
Posted by Eric Welch at March 18th, 2009 at 9:34 amLike those correspondents whom Colbert skewered face-to-face along with Bush, this CNBC guy just doesn’t get it. Just as those correspondents had not fact checked the storyline Bush et al. told to get us into Iraq, the CNBC guys and gals didn’t fact check the tall tales spun by the financial companies’ spokespeople. Krugman, Nouriel, Lewis and Grant were prominent skeptics on over-leveraging. Were any of them interviewed on CNBC before the debacle? Cramer is not a journalist. He is an entertainer, a clown, really. He was never reality-based. That he came to represent CNBC is telling.
Posted by peter thom at March 18th, 2009 at 10:45 amJeff Zucker shouldn’t be crying about John Stewart’s comments to Jim Cramer – Stewart was right-on. Zucker should questioning his own judgment. Jim Cramer has hit a new low with his many past comments i,e, “This sub-prime crap doesn’t amount to anything more than a pimple on an elephants butt. You can take all of this sub-prime crap and write it down to zero. It’s all way over-blown.”
Jim Cramer is the new Jerry Springer of financial reporting – a “money-honey want-to-be, but of the wrong gender.” Zucker should have his head examined for keeping Cramer around and Steward was well justified.
Posted by richard hawthorne at March 18th, 2009 at 11:11 amWhat Zucker avoids is the tragic little truth about the type of Stewart’s ’show’ , and how broadcast nets use them.
Posted by Jay Theas at March 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pmSimply release hordes of research assistants to screen every bit of recorded media for the cycle, and they tag every incident where someone of note (1)-misspeaks themselves; (2)-experiences an episode of clumsiness; or (3)-is caught with a goofy look on their face!
Then a slot-filler who cleans up pretty well, and who can display their own goofy look, grunts, moans, or titters, and they are off to stardom!
If the studio audience is brain-dead enough, or lazy enough, the response is automatic; or canned responses are used.
I suppose that we should encourage people like MYSELF to stop writing/speaking about it, for I feel that I’ve only helped validate the thing.
Besides, the act was in use very long ago, AND I must add, a whole helluvalot better!
“Wink, wink, nudge, nudge!!….. know what I mean, know what I mean?? …..Say no more, say no MORE”!
It’s not at all clear what Jeff Zucker is talking about. Has he watched Mad Money? Here’s a guy that went to Harvard and sits on very prestigious boards and supports this trash being on the air. I thought the best part of the Kramer/Stewart interchange was when Stewart said “There’s a market for cocaine and hookers”. Mr. Zucker, I suggest that when you go home tonight to your expansive Manhattan apartment, take a stroll into your walk-in closet. I’m assuming there is a full length mirror there. Stand in front of it and take a long hard look. Perhaps you might ask yourself what standard you seem to be striving for. I’m guessing it has 100% to do with maximizing the almighty dollar and 0% to do with the ideals you may have one time espoused as a Harvard freshman. You’ve made your choices and that’s fine. But please, please don’t tell us that Jon Stewart is out of line. Thanks, JS for hitting the nail on the head. CNBC is reeling and now that their PR campaign has fizzed, they wheeling out the big guns. Some programming advice for Mr. Zucker, albeit stolen from a dated Levi’s commercial: Quality never goes out of style.
Posted by David Kaplan at March 18th, 2009 at 4:51 pm