Critic: CNBC Has Attention Span of a 'Fruit Fly'

When, exactly, did talking about CNBC become a substitute for talking about the economy? Time's James Poniewozik offers his take on the business news network and its suddenly prominent role in our national conversation:

To watch CNBC today is to enter an alternative universe, where élites are populists, Wall Street is Main Street and bank executives are the oppressed. It's not surprising that a voice of opposition to the new Administration would emerge. But who would have thought it would be on a channel not owned by Rupert Murdoch?

What's strange, says Poniewozik, is that while CNBC's profile has exploded, its constituency has remained essentially unchanged. Whoever may be listening to Jim Cramer and his posse these days, they're still speaking solely on behalf of investors:

When ordinary people think about the economy, they think about jobs, college, retirement. Sure, the stock market affects them in the long run -- but so do job security and the threat of getting wiped out by health-care bills. When CNBC considers the economy, it means Wall Street's numbers that day, that hour, that minute. CNBC may pay lip service to the long term, but it has the time horizon of a fruit fly.