CNBC is taking flak from some viewers over its on-air comments about Knight/Trimark Group, the biggest market maker on the Nasdaq Market.
Some viewers are complaining CNBC has a conflict of interest since it has a minority stake in the Archipelago electronic-trading network – a competitor of Knight/Trimark.
On her Friday night show nine days ago, Money Honey Maria Bartiromo grilled Knight/Trimark CEO Ken Pasternak. After Bartiromo’s taped interview with Pasternak, she went to a live session with Bear Stearns analyst Amy Butte, who dumped on Knight/Trimark some more. Pasternak wasn’t given a chance to respond.
Viewers have been filling CNBC.com message boards with complaints ever since.
“CNBC is pathetic with bashing NITE,” wrote one disgruntled viewer, referring to Knight/Trimark by it stock ticker symbol. “You can clearly see the bias they display.”
“Archipelago is a passive investment that we hold off the balance sheet,” said David Andersen, a vice president at CNBC, when alerted to the negative Web site postings. “We are not a pump and dump channel. We get lots of people participating in our message boards. The whole point of message boards is for people to express their views. It’s a modern-day letter to the editor, and we respect the differing opinions that our viewers hold.”