Wall St riveted by comedy clash

Published: March 14 2009 02:00 Last updated: March 14 2009 02:00 A showdown between a comedian who has become one of America's most challenging news commentators and a news commentator known for his comedic antics has shone the brightest spotlight on the media's market coverage since the financial crisis began. On Thursday night, two cable television celebrities squared off as Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show news parody programme on Viacom's Comedy Central channel confronted Jim Cramer, the former hedge fund manager and star of CNBC's Mad Money programme. Following a week of digs at the GE-owned financial news channel, blaming it for bullish coverage of Wall Street institutions before they collapsed, Mr Stewart played the role of a prosecutor as he castigated his guest in person as a "snake-oil salesman". Mr Cramer, usually over the top, was sometimes contrite, admitting he had got many things wrong, and CNBC was fair game. "Don't you want guys like me, who've been in it, to show the shenanigans?" Mr Cramer asked. "I'm not Edward R Murrow, I'm a guy trying to do an entertainment show," he said, in reference to the CBS broadcaster's McCarthy-era ex-posés. Finance was not a joke, said Mr Stewart, who bolstered his case by playing a grainy 2006 videotape of Mr Cramer saying that when his hedge fund held a short position and wanted a stock to fall, he would sometimes "create a level of activity beforehand that could drive the future". Mr Stewart told his guest: "I can't tell you how angry it makes me." The clash between the two TV hosts overtook Apple's new iPod and Barack Obama as one of the most talked-about subjects on Twitter on Thursday night, as debate about the media's role in the crisis spilled over from Wall Street to the web. "I had a dinner last night with some significant people in the business world. They all wanted to get home for 11pm [when The Daily Show airs]," said Harris Diamond, chief executive of the constituency management group at Interpublic. The expectation hanging over the interview was built up, in part, by CNBC's sister channels, NBC and MSNBC, which invited Mr Cramer on during the week to dismiss Mr Stewart as "a comedian" and pound dough with Martha Stewart at the mention of his name. The clash, coming after CNBC has enjoyed some of the highest ratings in its history, began when Rick Santelli, a CNBC presenter who gained prominence with a diatribe against the Obama administration's mortgage plans, pulled out of a planned appearance on The Daily Show . On Thursday "it changed from comedy to news", Mr Diamond said. The Long View, Page 16