Thursday, April 2, 2009

So, Jim, It Is (Has Been) Depression After All?

Jim Cramer came clear today on CNBC. Both in "Stop Trading!" and "Mad Money". We are in depression. He actually said that we have been in depression, but I'm not that sure. Even if we had the bottom of the stock market in March. Thing is, during previous depression, bottom was reached 1932, but Great Depression was going on for several years more.

But this is not about nuances. This is about a role of a journalist. Jim just confirmed that he lied to us on TV since September 2007. Every time he said "depression is off the table", every time he called current time "recession" he lied. He thought one thing and told us another.

I already wrote here that it's no business of a journalist to try to form opinions. Journalist should report facts and if he wishes, his interpretation of facts. If he knows something related to his reports, if he can prove or at least argue it, it's his duty to report it. The only exception is somebody's personal life, although there are a lot of reporters who don't care about people's privacy. But this is an event of the century. And one of the best in the business refuses to tell us exactly what he thinks about it.

Jim, this is not acceptable. You made mockery of journalism. I don't care that correct information can scare somebody. For every scared person there would be at least one who can make correct conclusions. Politicians are listening to you, correct definition could've made them act faster.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Alex-

The hole in your reasoning is that you assume that all television programming purporting to be news is really news and not just entertainment. There are other examples beyond Jim Cramer and CNBC. You need to start looking at these things for what they are, not what you think or want them to be.