Friedman: How CNBC can "regain its stride"

MarketWatch senior columnist Jon Friedman calls CNBC's first quarter of 2009 "a season in hell" filled with "image-rattling incidents." Friedman cites Santelli's "tirade," Jim Cramer's "meek performance" on Jon Stewart's show and the departures of news chief Jonathan Wald and anchor Dylan Ratigan as the major "setbacks" for the financial network, which remains in the No. 1 spot despite its recent problems. 

If you're optimistic about CNBC's prospects, you'd chalk up this period of transition as the sort of upheaval that goes on all the time in the hurly-burly of the television-news business. If you took a darker view, you'd conclude that CNBC was out of control behind the camera as well as in front of it. 

While Friedman doesn't explicitly say which side he is on, he does offer CNBC a few suggestions. He urges the network to focus on the news and stay away from tangents, analyze the news, avoid one-sidedness that might draw more criticism, take into account the "little guy" and tone down the "antics" and quiet the "yellers."

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