Neil Cavuto Interview…
AdWeek’s D.M. Levine, who actually isn’t at AdWeek anymore, interviews Neil Cavuto…
What do you think about your competitors’ business coverage?
They can talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk. If you’re going to be Bloomberg or CNBC and sponsor a presidential debate and you’re not even going to stay up late to give the Iowa caucus results or commit yourself nonstop to South Carolina or cover a debt downgrade post the market hours, either with the United States last summer or much of Europe, and still say you’re all business all the time, you’re lying through your teeth. We may be young and in half the homes and the upstart, but we know what we are.
What is that exactly?
I have a cardinal rule with my staff: We don’t use jargon. We don’t use acronyms. We don’t assume the audience has this down pat. We don’t try to check with our banker and broker contacts [to see] whether an interview impressed them. I’d sooner make an inroad with my mother-in-law. The rap against business journalists is that we deliberately try to sound like the smartest kid in the class. I can tell you, I was not. FBN is like a business field of dreams. If you build it, they will come. I’m not smart enough to know when they will come. I’m waiting. But I’m impressed by the results we’ve seen.
February 7, 2012 at 9:37 am
Cavuto is so full of crap; he’s been running this channel for years and NOW its, “but we know what we are.”
Well, what were you when word came down from the top about the politics coverage? What about OJ Simpson coverage and other non biz news?
You’re nothing but BS artist and should be fired.
February 7, 2012 at 11:18 am
Cavuto is so delusional and out of touch with reality, I think he’s actually hurting FBN.
Fact is, the channel is now showing year over year DECLINES in the ratings – despite the fact this is a young, supposedly “growing” channel (anyone noticed they quickly yanked the “fastest growing biz channel” tagline last year?).
And I find it amusing when Neil says “We’re interesting. They’re boring. And they look like they’re having a miserable time” – in reality, it’s FBN which is lacking energy (especially during the day)…some of the hours are just downright deadly boring. One example is Liz’s 3-4pm hours, which are rated as the lowest on the already low rated channel.
February 7, 2012 at 1:58 pm
And I bet Claman is making a fat salary as well.. Most likely more than the bulk of ‘talent’, no?
February 7, 2012 at 5:07 pm
OK, I have never watched a second of FBN. After reading this interview, I thought, Huh, I ought to give this channel a try. Bloomberg is usually boring, CNBC is just a corporate infomercial, so why not try FBN to see if they can actually relate to the average investor. He is so right about CNBC dorks trying to be the smart kids impressing their brokers. The financial crisis really exposed CNBC as the emperor with no clothes. After reading the comments above, it sounds like I shouldn’t bother watching FBN. Oh well, I guess I’ll stick with Ali Velshi and Christine Romans on CNN.