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Berry to Bartiroma re: Bernanke: Big Burn, You Blew It

John Berry, the Washington Post reporter (now at Bloomberg) who covers the Fed -- and widely believed to have a direct line from Greenspan and other FOMC members -- came out swinging this morning. In today's column, he accused CNBC reporter Maria Bartiroma of "burning Bernanke," engaging in journalistic ethical lapses, and failing to treat private conversations at an off-the-record event appropriately.

Earlier this morning, Berry wrote:

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke wasn't cautious enough about the ground rules when he chatted with journalists at the White House Correspondent Association's dinner April 29, and he got badly burned . . .

Virtually all reporters treat discussions at such events as being off-the-record -- that is, not for publication -- unless there is an explicit understanding otherwise. You can be sure he has learned that painful lesson."

In other words, the veteran print journo is accusing the TV anchor of not understanding the rules of engagement when mixing at social functions with the personalities and subjects they cover. CNBC (through a spokesman) disagreed, saying "there was no question Bernanke's comments were on-the-record."

Berry goes on to add that it was clear the Fed is "Not Finished" and that markets did misunderstand the concept of a pause; he quotes WaPo reporter Nell Henderson's column, that while the central bank may "pause in the process of raising interest rates to restrain inflation, that would not necessarily mean they were finished.''

Reuters reported that "speaking after the markets' close on Tuesday on CNBC's "Kudlow & Company", Bartiromo said she was sure Bernanke didn't want to see major market reactions to his remarks and that "in his heart, I did him a favor."

Several others have criticized Bartiroma for sitting on her market moving news until her 3pm show began. After she released her "scoop," the market tanked.

Bartiroma, formerly known as the "Money Honey" for her reports from the floor of the NYSE, has generated all kinds of criticism and coverage since the snafu.

I suspect we may not have seen the last of this story . . .

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UPDATE 2 May 4, 2006 11:48am

Ben is a fast learner; from a friend (quoting Reuters) we see that:

Yesterday, midday, at that local-economy talk the Fed Chief gave in DC, “When he arrived at the conference, reporters asked exactly what he had said at the dinner, but he walked by without a word. He did not take audience questions, and left as silently as he had arrived.”

Apparently "Once bitten, twice shy" is a fair assessment of the new Fed Chief's experience with the Press. Dunno what they taught you at MIT and Harvard, Ben, but all you hadda do was call, and I woulda schooled ya on the finer points of dealing with the media.

Now ya know.

>

UPDATE 1 May 3, 2006 9:48am

Here's a link to the video of Maria Bartiromo's 3 PM interview.

Note: This only works with Explorer 6, and I am using IE 7; (Leave it to Microsoft)

>

Sources:
Bernanke Couldn't Be Clearer -- You Hear That?
John M. Berry
Bloomberg, May 3, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/fu38z

Other Coverage:

CNBC's Bartiromo says report does Bernanke a 'favor'
Joe Maguire
Reuters, Tue May 2, 2006 6:01 PM ET
http://tinyurl.com/fxuch

Bernanke slips on Bartiromo peel
Fallout uncertain on off-the-cuff interview as confusion reigns
Greg Robb
MarketWatch, 6:24 PM ET May 2, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/jtd76

Bernanke remarks leave analysts bemused
Jennifer Hughes in New York
FT May 2 2006 21:55 | Last updated: May 2 2006 21:55
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12600114/

Investors Misunderstood Bernanke Testimony, CNBC Anchor Says
Nell Henderson
Washington Post, Tuesday, May 2, 2006; Page D03
http://tinyurl.com/syjh9

When The Fed Chairman Speaks, Everyone Freaks
CBS, May 2, 2006
http://tinyurl.com/kb59t

Ben Bernanke Tells All to the Money Honey    
WONKETTE.COM
http://tinyurl.com/hf59s

Bernanke Boots His Rally?
Minyanville Staff
May 02, 2006 9:37
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/index.php?a=10224

Fed Struggles to Convince Markets Of Its Own Uncertainty on Rates
GREG IP
WSJ, May 3, 2006; Page A1
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114661897580842186.html

MARIA, FED HEAD GO HEAD-TO-HEAD
PAUL THARP
N.Y. Post, May 3, 2006
http://www.nypost.com/business/67944.htm

Maria's Fed Minute
Jeff Cooper
Street Insight, 5/2/2006 7:09 AM EDT
http://tinyurl.com/mbnsm

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 | 08:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (40) | TrackBack (3)
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Comments

"I did him a favor"

I mean come on. I've been wanting some favors from her for years. When do I get my favor?

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 8:24:28 AM

This has become an interesting tempest in a teapot but it limns a couple more significant issues:

Bernanke's testimony was clear enough: FOMC decisions are data-driven and a pause means just that, a pause, and no more. If a significant number of market participants appear to have read his comments in some other way, perhaps in the way they have become accustomed to reading Greenspan's, then that clearly has implications for the form of communication Bernanke must adopt in future. It will be interesting to see what he does about that, whether, like Greenspan, he ceases all informal interviews with reporters or whether he adopts some other strategy.

On the reportage front, Berry criticizes Bartiromo for bad form. This may be true, I have no way of knowing, perhaps talking heads aren't supposed to do real reporting. But it is not difficult to also interpret this flap as Bartiromo putting the reporting gravy train at risk because continuing access to movers and shakers depends upon a certain amount of, umm ...discretion and 'balance.' This is a familiar theme and appears to be one of the main reasons we've had so much trouble getting real news (as opposed to talking points and 'balanced' opinion) from most media out of Washington D.C.

Posted by: RW | May 3, 2006 8:29:01 AM

she's a bimbo and clueless about how the markets work. my favorite part was that she seemed startled when the S&P pit erupted after her comment, "what's all that commotion down there?" uh, you set off a wave of sell programs you dumbass.

i wonder of the authorities are looking at an investigation. does she have any guidelines on releasing material information to the market? did she tell her hedge fund sources so they could get short before her interview? i can't imagine she sat on that scoop for 2 days without telling someone who could have profited by the info

Posted by: thecynic | May 3, 2006 9:07:01 AM

I agree she's a bimbo and clueless but who cares how she released it. How does the timing of when she said it, change the outcome? It doesn't. Move on. Nothing to see here.

Posted by: asdf | May 3, 2006 9:33:03 AM

Screw John Berry and the rest of his beltway punks with their ground rules for what gets reported and what doesn't. If Bernanke doesn't want his statements on policy to be reported, there's a very simple solution: he can keep his freakin trap shut.

What Berry wants to keep is to keep his own gravy train running: "I get secret info from the Fed, so you better read my stuff." There's too much of that in the media these days. Too much coziness between reporters and the people and industries they cover. The newsmedia right now is the single worst run institution in American society. Colbert had them pegged.

Posted by: royce | May 3, 2006 9:35:09 AM

Let's talk about the real issue. Maria used to be a hottie. Now she looks like she just got off a 3 day bender. What gives?

Posted by: JoshK | May 3, 2006 9:40:17 AM

tough crowd!

Posted by: Barry Ritholtz | May 3, 2006 9:45:41 AM

Is that a snafu on the part of the Chairman or our money honey? And by the way does SNAFU stand for S... Not Another F... Up?

Posted by: McSwiggen | May 3, 2006 10:06:31 AM

i think she's been on a 10 year bender.

if it was an off the record comment but she told a portfolio manager or a bond trader before she released to the public, that would seem to be an issue (i can assure you she has a lot of contacts). the chairman of the Fed can't be in the business of giving private info to some people that contradicts the info his is giving to the public (and congress). that would be a violation of the trust of the office.
kinda like telling the public there are WMD when you know there are none.
if it was on the record, CNBC should have confirmed with the Fed's press office and then released Sunday or worst Monday pre-open, not at 3:00 or whenever she said it. that would have given all market participants to digest the info and potentially get an official statement from Bernanke as opposed to this off the cuff cocktail blabber.

trust me, if you got hit on a half billion 2YR notes at 2:45 by someone who had the info, you'd question the timing of the release. the outcome could have been different if the market had all day to digest.

Posted by: thecynic | May 3, 2006 10:16:57 AM

My fav Maria Moment? When she asked the CEO of Encana about drilling for gasoline.

Posted by: Brian | May 3, 2006 10:25:26 AM

Her husband is Jonathan Steinberg. If he was at the event, or she whispered in his ear, what are the chances he was establishing a position in the morning? And it wouldn't have been illegal, I don't think. That's just good research I suppose.

Posted by: mkpb | May 3, 2006 10:39:14 AM

Yeah, Steinberg published Individual Investor magazine in the ninetys. I made some real dough from his stock picks.

Posted by: jim | May 3, 2006 10:43:44 AM

She's a babe.

Posted by: getshort | May 3, 2006 10:51:41 AM

"what's all that commotion down there?" uh, you set off a wave of sell programs you dumbass.

thecynic

I can just that exchange as lines from Beavis and Butthead

Beavis: Hey Butthead, what's going on down there?
Butthead: You just set off a wave of sell programs, dumbass.
Beavis: Don't call me a dumbass, bungmunch (kicks Butthead in crotch).

Annnnnyway, on a much more important topic, I've never thought a whole lot of Maria on CNBC. She's not ugly or anything, but for my money, Katie Couric is the network babe of babes, followed very closely by the blonde Australian reporter on 60 minutes/CNN.

And finally, who cares if Bernanke and Bartoromo's comments were on and off the record. To beat a dead horse, is this any way to set public policy?

Posted by: Bynocerus | May 3, 2006 11:01:16 AM

Look, if the dipshits didn't go on a buying orgasm on the "we may pause" bit, nobody would be complaining.
They cherry picked one sentence out of a statement that had plenty of counter arguments in it , because they wanted a rally. It was simply "here is one option we can pursue, if the data warrants it. but even if we saw reason to pause, we could keep hiking afterwards "

So all this bellyaching about "Lips" Bartiroma is BS. They're just pissed because they got off balance and put WAY too much emphasis on reading the entrails and throwing the bones on every peep out of a Fed member.

Posted by: Alaskan Pete | May 3, 2006 11:13:41 AM

Oh come on! Katie Couric? She's like 90 and all weathered from too many sunny vacations in the south of France with the other liberal elites. (I prefer the needles rolling up on the beach of the Jersey shore. Second best is Virginia Beach for lovers. Yeah right. Drunk sailors from the local Navy base shagging hookers on the crusty beach.)

Now, CNBC/MSNBC has the hottest babes although Fox has tried to emulate them. Although I can't hardly stand to watch the Nazis on Fox. Christine Johnson from MSNBC pipes in on Squawk. She's like a more mature Jessica Alba. Contessa Brewer? Natale Morales? Nora O'Donnell on Chris Matthews? There's a couple more but I can't place their names. A super hot blonde as well.

Btw, if Maria did blow some smoke, and I'm sure she did, and it reached some big money, that might be a legal problem. It almost felt like a set up. But, I have to think traders aren't that stupid unless they talked to their attorneys first. And, they likely did.

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 11:18:45 AM

Katie Couric? Yikes.

'SNAFU' I believe has a military origin and stands for "situation normal, all f----d up".

Posted by: drey | May 3, 2006 12:25:47 PM

How old are you guys? Sure, Katie Couric isn't Molly Sims, but you should pray to god that your wife looks that good at 50. She's one of those few women who get better with age (up to a certain point. Eventually, getting old unmercifcully takes over.).

To me, Bartoromo looks like someone you settle for after 12:00 during an unlucky night at the bar.

Posted by: Bynocerus | May 3, 2006 12:33:46 PM

I must be younger than you. 42. Katie is nice for 50 but you are right. She isn't Molly Sims. I'd prefer Molly Sims. Got any contacts? Don't you think MB looks a little like Sophia Loren? Although her TV personality ain't getting a vote for Sophia Loren-ish. More like Hillary Clinton-ish. Although I must say Hillary is growing on me.

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 12:57:14 PM

Sophia Loren looks like MB? Honestly, that's like saying that Barry looks like a young Robert Deniro. Maybe they could be second cousins, but that's about it.

And no, I can't hook you up with Molly Sims, although I do know Miss USA vicariously.

Back on topic, anyway we could change Big Ben's nick name to Rug Bern or Ben Dover?

Posted by: Bynocerus | May 3, 2006 1:03:18 PM

Oh, I vote for Ben Dover. He's second cousins with Mike Hunt. Althought before it's all said and done, he might wish he was Seymore Butts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymore_Butts

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 1:24:04 PM

"How old are you guys? Sure, Katie Couric isn't Molly Sims, but you should pray to god that your wife looks that good at 50."

I'm 30. I'd wager my better half could beat out Couric at 50, but the bet won't come due for another 25 years or so.

Posted by: trader75 | May 3, 2006 1:43:34 PM

I could have figured you were 30. You haven't been around the block enough to realize your doom and gloom predictions about American are repeated every generation. :)

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 1:52:26 PM

For those of us who will *only* use the FireFox browser, can you upload this video to YouTube.com, provide the link, so All can see? Thanks.

[Re: Here's a link to the video of Maria Bartiromo's 3 PM interview. Note: This only works with Explorer 6, and I am using IE 7; (Leave it to Microsoft)]

Posted by: Jimmy Cliff | May 3, 2006 1:55:16 PM

Btw, I am about to incriminate myself for the pig I am. It isn't about what you have it's about what you don't have. It's a damn mind game that I am always trying to overcome. I guess it's part of the human condition. Ten years ago I dated a former Miss America. I eventually became bored of her. It's a constant struggle with the demons inside every man. I believe in the sanctity of marriage and would never cheat if I were married but.........As Howard Stern said. There is always a hot chick around the corner some guy is sick of banging.

Posted by: B | May 3, 2006 2:03:02 PM

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