This is Not Funny Anymore

Jon Stewart’s rant about CNBC last night must have been his funniest show ever.  But when the laughter died, it left me with an uneasy feeling about the future of the financial network.

In less than ten minutes, Mr. Stewart took CNBC apart and also confirmed our worst fears – there is something not right with some mainstream media.  They’ve changed their focus from information to infotainment and are now becoming micro-infotainment as each “talent” (they’re not journalists in the traditional sense) becomes his or her own commentator/stand-up comic.  Or, as one of my print journalist friends calls them, bingo caller.

The micro-infotainment may be taking the whole concept of personal brand to an extreme, but that’s exactly what is expected of TV talent these days.  Perhaps the micro-infotainment is a symptom of our consumerism.  Viewers want their news packaged in small, cute pieces, funny or outrageous, and, above all, colorful.  Media are desperate to retain audiences and are therefore only too happy to keep the customer satisfied.  Unfortunately, the product isn’t ultimately satisfying, so that programs that deliver it may become irrelevant. Or, as happened to CNNfn less than five years ago, gone entirely.

This presents an interesting dilemma for media relations: where are the stakeholders we’re trying to reach?  How do we reach them? Which media are still relevant and credible?  I know that trying to book your CEO on the Jon Stewart show may sound like a lunatic proposition, unless he/she wrote an amazing book and can tell a joke without looking like a funeral director doing pole dance.

Social media consultants like to think that blogging and twittering is the answer.  But only a miniscule number of bloggers reach large audiences and, if you know of a CEO’s blog that is read by the same size audience as the Economist, please let me know.  We need extended media relations, capable of maximizing every media channel. (And please, don’t call it Media Relations 2.0, or some other dumb number.)  We need to make well-performing senior executives relevant again and that may take more creativity and brains than a year ago.

In the meantime, let’s hope that CNBC can get its act together and make itself relevant again.  We need a decent business program, because The Daily Show cannot replace it.