Who Says Fox Business Channel Is In The Tank for Business? While Maria Bartiromo, Uh, Snuggles Up to Citigroup, Meredith Whitney Plays It Straight

I wonder if Citigroup, the big bank, thinks that Fox Business Channel is slavish in its coverage of the business world. While CNBC's Maria Bartiromo has been, shall we say, on a long lovely trip with Citi, FBC's Meredith Whitney has been an honest voice of ethical and independent journalism.

It's important to get this right, because the "meme" has gotten around that somehow Fox Business Channel is pro-business. It's a relative of the misapprehension that has dogged the Fox News Channel these last 11 years--that FNC is somehow pro-Republican.

In fact, FNC is merely fair & balanced, playing it down the middle, and compared to the MSM, that comes across to some as biased to the right. And the same holds true with FBC--Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes, when they announced the new biz channel, said explicitly that they would not be anti-business, but also that they would not be pro-business. What they said was that FBC would be pro-market, pro-hard work, pro-entrepreneurship, and pro-upward mobility. That's a thoroughly admirable objective, in tune with the hopes of dreams of hundreds of millions in America, and billions around the world.

But at no time did FBC ever intend to be the mistress--oops, make that, the patsy--for anyone. And so we come to the difference between CNBC's Bartiromo and FBC's Whitney.

Bartiromo, as everyone knows, has had what might be called a love affair with Citigroup for a long time--an overly friendly interview with former Citi chairman and CEO Sandy Weill in 2003, and a great relationship with bounced Citigroup exec Todd Thomson that spilled into the news in 2007. But as we now know, Citibank has been falling off a cliff: after huge losses in the mortgage market, the stock is down by a third, and CEO who replaced Weill, Chuck Prince, is about to be pushed out the door.

Now we might ask: Which business channel got that story? Well, FBC had a big piece of it. But don't take my word for it: Here's the hot story in The Times of London on FBC's Whitney, which reports that Whitney braved past even death threats in her effort to share the truth as she saw it. And it looks as if she has been proven completely correct about Citi.

Here's some good stuff from The Times' Tom Bawden:

[Whitney] also downgraded her recommendation on Citigroup’s shares to “market underperform” in the note that set off America’s biggest stock market decline since August.

Ms Whitney, Forbes’s second-highest ranked stock picker for 2007, told The Times: “People are scared to be negative, especially when a company has such a wide holding. Clients are not pleased with my call and I have had several death threats.

“But it was the most straightforward call I’ve made in my career and I am surprised my peer analysts have been resistant. It’s so straightforward, it’s indisputable.”

In other words, she looked deep into the data, put her mouth where her clients' money was--and has been vindicated!

On the personal side, Whitney is an interesting character, but the main point, to business-news viewers, is that she is fearless and honest. That's what investors want, and that's what all news-minded viewers and clickers want.

Maria Bartiromo, the Semi-Money Honey

A very arch piece in Dealbreaker.com, on the fading CNBC sex bomb, easier to quote than to parse:

The population of China, unable to describe what was going on between Maria Bartiromo and Todd Thomson during their trysts to the Far East, decided to modernize its language.

Respectful of Maria’s status as the Money Honey, Maria and Todd were officially branded “ban tang fu qi” or a “semi-honey couple.” The phrase denotes young, married professionals who live in separate homes or go on long trans-continental flights with one another.

Chinese authorities were pretty pissed when they found out Maria and Todd weren’t married, and no one has the heart to tell the CPC how old the two are (if they ever want to be seen again).

The above excerpt might be best described as a based on a Reuters story. Which means that Dealbreaker went to some imaginative lengths to turn an ordinary wire story into a big dig at Maria, illustrating the piece with a photo that shows off her wedding ring (!). Somebody must really have it in for her.

I wonder why.

Hey Maria Bartiromo! Todd Thomson Might Need You Again--And You Might Need Him

Remember Todd Thompson? He's the former Citigroup exec who had the closerthanthis relationship with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo. Interestingly enough, Thomson got pushed out, while Bartiromo has moved on to her next "get."

TheStreet.com caught up with the T-man. It seems that Todd has been on safari in Africa with "his family"--who must be tolerant, indeed. And he has formed a company, called Headwaters Capital. I assume that that's an inside joke, between Todd and his old flame, in terms of Ms. Bartiromo's legendary capability to give a licking and keep on ticking. You go, Maria--The Cable Game needs you!

Thanks to TCG reader A!

Bartiromo: Shameless Conspicuous Consumption -- And what that says about CNBC

Remember the "money honey" scandal,involving CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and a Citigroup executive, Todd Thomson? It was just a couple of months ago that everyone was talking about the seemingly salacious relationship between CNBC and Citi, both fleshly and financial.

Well, CNBC rode it out, sticking by Bartiromo, even as Citigroup separated itself from Thomson.

Now we see the upshot, or upshots--because they are very different: Sure enough, Thomson is gone from Citibank, but his parachute "will not be golden," according to Reuters.

By contrast, CNBC seems quite happy with Bartiromo: And now The New York Observer reports that she is moving into a $6.5 million townhouse on the upper east side of Manhattan. So she must be feeling pretty secure.

And now doubt looking for her next Todd Thomson.

But what does it say about a TV network that a bank looks good by comparison, when it comes to pushing an ethical broom?

Mr. Bartiromo?

It would appear that Todd Thomson, the once-high-flyer at Citigroup if you know what I mean and I think you do, is married, according to this press release. Or make that just, married.

Now that he is tasted honey, and discovered that it's bitter, what will come next for him?

"I locate the problem with CNBC"

Those are the stinging words of Edward Wasserman, who holds the prestigious Knight Professorship of Journalism at Washington & Lee University, as quoted by Bloomberg News. Wasserman's point was that it's wrong to focus on Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo in the unfolding "CNBC-gate" scandal. That is, Wasserman is saying, too much of the focus so far has been on Bartiromo's relationship, whatever it was, with ex-Citigroup exec Todd Thomson.

Now the story is taking a different turn, full of implications for The Cable News Game. Not to put too fine a point on it, the emerging allegation is that the flirting--maybe whoring--that went on was at the institutional level, as well as, maybe, the personal level.

Bartiromo might be the leading courtesan (that's the polite word) of financial news, but it's increasingly evident that it was her employer, CNBC, that was avidly encouraging her to, uh, reach out to big-bucks sources and sponsors.

"I locate the problem with CNBC," Wasserman said to Bloomberg reporters Justin Baer and Michael White: "They have obviously been using her and their other high-profile people as brand-creation devices and encouraging them to cozy up to people in the financial community."

If that's the case, then the whole of CNBC's corporate culture could be regarded as corrupt.

And The New York Times story today reinforces that sense of smelliness: As Times media critic David Carr explains, an "implicit contract" was at play between the bank and the network: "By making huge advertising buys on CNBC, Citigroup obtained access to its biggest star." Ah, the old phrase, "obtained access"! Gee, pray tell, what does that mean, to "obtain access" to the Money Honey?

One sure prediction: Now that this story is gaining so much critical mass, we will find out what the "contract" for "access" entailed, in fine and frilly detail.

The Story of the Money Honey not so Funny

The story of Todd Thomson and Maria Bartiromo is starting to look more like a subject for litigation--or even prosecution--and not just titillation.

As reported by The New York Post's "Page Six" earlier this week, Thomson was separated from his big job at Citigroup because of concerns that he was too close to Bartiromo, the CNBC star--aka "The Money Honey." It seems that the two of them took a jet from NYC to Beijing, and there have even reports that they took that long flight alone. Bartiromo, of course, is married, although her husband doesn't seem to be much in the picture, does he? And meanwhile, "P6" keeps discovering more dishy details of more trips they took together.

Now yet more scoop, summed up by the AP's Frazier Moore:

"Questions arose about trips she took on a Citigroup corporate jet - and one she didn't. About a year ago, Thomson was turned down when he asked for the jet to bring Bartiromo to his home near Bozeman, Mont., for a skiing vacation he was hosting for some private-banking clients, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"Among other complaints, Thomson was faulted by Citigroup Chairman Charles Prince for the decision to spend $5 million to sponsor Sundance Channel programming that Bartiromo was expected to co-host. According to the Journal, Bartiromo no longer will host the project.

"Since 2004, Bartiromo has aired 11 major pieces on Citigroup, including four interviews with Thomson, according to the Journal's review of CNBC transcripts."

Cablegame is no expert on these things, but these sorts of dealings seem to be taking this story from the province of the tabloids to the much harsher area of litigators and prosecutors. Watch for a shareholder suit, and also for action from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other regulatory agencies.

Something tells me that Bartiromo will have a different job in a year. Much different.

A Career Drowns in the Money Honey's Trap?

The New York Post's "Page Six" reports, you decide:

"Financial giant Citigroup was strangely mum last night on why Todd Thomson, its 45-year-old fair-haired head of wealth management, left the firm suddenly in a management shakeup yesterday. Sources close to the Wall Street giant say Thomson got on the bad side of CEO Chuck Prince by shuttling personal friends - including CNBC's anchor and 'Money Honey' Maria Bartiromo - around the world on the company's corporate jet. Sources said that Thomson, whose unit was a financial success story inside the firm, had been warned about his high-flying ways - but that the tipping point came when Bartiromo joined him on the Citi corporate jet between New York and Beijing last year. A CNBC spokesman later said: 'Maria sought and received approval in advance to fly to Asia on Citi's jet. Billing was handled between CNBC's corporate parent and Citi.' Bartiromo, reached via e-mail in Davos, Switzerland, said any connection to Thomson's departure was 'flat-out wrong.'"

Interestingly enough, The New York Times prints pretty the same story this morning.

The Cable Game would be the first to admit that it doesn't know much about High Finance. But it does know something about High Maintenance women! And so TCG recognizes Maria "Money Honey" Bartiromo as a kindred spirit. Go, girl!

And so whatever the truth about the relationship between Bartiromo and Thomson--and that's a lo-o-o-ng trip from NYC to Beijing!--we can now fully expect that relationship to get the full juicy + dishy treatment from Vanity Fair, Radar, The New York Observer, etc.

And it'll be fun!