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How CNBC Turned an Embarrassing Clip Into a PR Fiasco (Here’s the Clip)

Jul 22, 2013  •  Post A Comment

CNBC made what’s being called a public relations blunder after some of its on-air personalities got a lesson in the banking system from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Deadline.com reports that the cable channel "looked like a sore loser" after it ordered YouTube to take down the clip on copyright grounds.

In the clip from a "Squawk Box" interview, Warren "forcefully and gleefully" takes on challenges about financial regulation from the network’s hosts, the story reports. The clip went viral, with more than 700,000 views after Upworthy and Warren’s YouTube site posted it, the piece notes.

The interview is being clled an embarrassment for CNBC, and the channel’s effort to squelch it online apparently only added to the embarrassment. Upworthy notes that it’s common practice for politicians to post clips of their interviews on TV news outlets.

Columbia Journalism Review called the interview a "TKO" for Warren, who is sponsoring the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act along with Republican Sen. John McCain. The CJR says she made CNBC host Brian Sullivan look "downright foolish."

"No wonder NBCUniversal’s copyright order smelled fishy," the Deadline.com piece notes, adding, "The brouhaha appears to be subsiding after CNBC said that the interview is ‘well worth watching’ and that it ‘has been available to view in multiple locations on CNBC.com since its original posting.’"

Here’s the portion of the interview posted by Upworthy:

7 Comments

  1. “Schooled” nothing; Warren is pushing her liberal, big government view of what the left claims was behind the crisis where CNBC is pointing out the institutions that absorbed the failed banks did so largely within the private sector.

  2. He seriously forgot that the very people who paid for and the Glass-Steagall Act to be repealed have said it was a mistake and they should have never pushed it. ON CNBC INTERVIEWS! The men interviewing are famous for ‘market rule with no regulation” that concept has been proven over and over to lead to ruin for the majority. The wealthy have also benefitted tremendously from market rule. Bring back Glass-Stegall!

  3. After looking at the video clip, I totally disagree with the Columbia Journalism Review calling the interview a “TKO” for Warren. Neither was it an “embarrassment” for CNBC. What the hosts did were what any good journalist should do, they asked tough questions of the interviewee. Senator Warren knew what she was talking about and answered those tough questions. I have seen far too many interviews of politicians where the interviewer lobbed a softball at the interviewee and the audience really learned nothing. This interview was the type of interview that I’d hope to see more of in the future. Good for Senator Warren and good for CNBC.

  4. You want some cheese with that whine? Seriously, it’s all “liberal agenda” this and “liberal agenda” that with you lot and “right wing fascists” this and “right wing fascists” that from the other side of the table. The only thing the rest of us want to hear come out of ANY of your over-stuffed pieholes is DEAD SILENCE. Both sides like to talk cnstantly but neither side has had anything to say worth listening to since some time in the mi-50’s and I’m pretty sure that was by accident.

  5. I guess I missed what made this an embarrassing clip. Other than the innocent complement at the end that could be misinterpreted, this to me was an interesting discussion about ideas on how to lower the risk in banking. I heard good points on both sides of the conversation. I’m going to research the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act so that I can have an informed opinion on it. Isn’t that what news is supposed to do or were the CNBC reporters supposed to beat up Senator Warren and take her lunch money?

  6. Yeah, Bill, John McCain, big time liberal.

  7. of course she kicked their asses. She had and knew the facts. The fact is that for 50 years we didn’t have banking problems because of Glass-Steagall. Take it away and look what happens. Shock, really. Let me remind you the Senator who pushed the repeal the most put his name on it. Phil
    Gramm. Then he leaves, goes to work for UBS, gets a fat payday. Didn’t UBS just settle a lawsuit for about 700 million?

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