NBC chief decries attack on CNBC as 'unfair'

Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's chief executive officer, defended CNBC and called Jon Stewart's criticism of the business news channel "incredibly unfair."

CNBC, a part of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal division, has done "a fantastic job" covering financial markets, Zucker said today at the McGraw-Hill Cos. Media Summit in New York.

Zucker said CNBC and Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" advice show haven't lost viewers since Stewart and "The Daily Show" began criticizing the network for recommending stocks and not being tougher on chief executives who were interviewed leading up to the market's collapse.

"The criticism of CNBC and the business media in general was completely out of line," Zucker said. "Just because someone who mocks authority says something doesn't make it so. The audiences have been there in very strong numbers in the last seven days. So there doesn't appear to be any effect."

Cramer's March 12 appearance attracted the biggest audience to "The Daily Show," which airs on Viacom Inc.'s Comedy Central network, since the U.S. presidential inauguration, according to Nielsen Co.

"Listen, you knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months," Stewart told Cramer. "The entire network was. And so now to pretend this was some crazy once in a lifetime tsunami is disingenuous at best, criminal at worst."

"I wish I had done a better job," Cramer said. "I was late saying that it was bad."

Comedy Central spokeswoman Renata Luczak declined to comment and said Stewart isn't giving interviews.

"Mad Money," a show where Cramer advocates buying or selling shares in companies, averaged 331,000 viewers in the week of his "Daily Show" appearance, a 13 percent increase from the February average, according to Nielsen.

"The Daily Show" attracted 2.9 million viewers to Cramer's interview. The weeknight parody of traditional news shows averaged 2.1 million daily viewers in the week of March 9, Nielsen said.

"GE's commitment to NBC Universal has been clear," Zucker said. "Nothing lasts forever, but I think NBCU has benefited greatly from being part of GE, and I hope that continues, and I believe it will."

Viacom, controlled by Sumner Redstone, advanced 45 cents to $16.17 on the New York Stock Exchange. The Class B shares had declined 18 percent this year before today.

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