I, like many other bloggers interested in economics, offer you Jon Stewart taking apart Jim Cramer on the Daily Show. It’s incredible journalism.
In some ways, Jim Cramer gets unfairly blamed for all financial journalism on TV. But that’s okay. He’ll be glum all the way to the bank. And he agreed to come on. And it’s not like he’s totally innocent.
Also, I’m not sure the problems in financial journalism are limited to CNBC. A lot of fine journalism takes place elsewhere, but very little of it, in my opinion, really gets at the ways in which financial operators get rich off of “other people’s money.” I think there are some good reasons for this (reasons, not excuses, mind you) which could apply to any coverage area in journalism:
- you need a certain amount of access, or you can’t do your job – so you don’t routinely piss off sources
- you talk to industry people a lot, so you come to identify with their point of view
- there’s been the three-decade trend toward praising and celebrating Wall Street.
Jon Stewart really doesn’t have the first two restrictions. And thanks to the economic crisis, he can fairly and safely ignore the third.
Now, how do we sustain this kind of questioning of the financial sector in all financial media once our economic ship begins to right itself?
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Bill Poorman 
