Mark Haines dead at 65

Posted at 9:24 AM on May 25, 2011 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Media

The New York Stock Exchange doesn't stop for anybody, but it paused for a moment of silence this morning for CNBC anchor Mark Haines, who died suddenly today at 65.

Haines was a rare gift to the world of journalism, TV journalism in particular. He actually listened to the answers he was being given by people who were trying to put one over on him, and he wasn't afraid to call them on it. Just last August, I wrote on News Cut at the time, he called out a Wells Fargo executive who suggested that unemployment benefits are to blame for high unemployment. He didn't dominate the conversation; he killed with facts.

He also hated political spinmeisters.



Haines achieved a cult following partly for his work on CNBC on 9/11. "This cannot be an accident," he said early on. It starts at about 4 minutes in here...



Haines was the best rationale for having more curmudgeons and fewer makeup artists in today's newsrooms.

"He didn't love France; he loved his country and his family," a colleague said today.

---

Comments (5)

Mark was always very enjoyable. When he was moved off of Squawk Box to his later slot my mornings Squawk Box became less of a show and more of a circus .

RIP Mark.

Posted by matt | May 25, 2011 12:04 PM

---

As you correctly point out, Mr. Haines was one of the few "talking heads" that was not afraid to call "BS" on a person he was interviewing. That kind of broadcast journalist is already on the "endangered species" list.

Posted by John O. | May 25, 2011 12:07 PM

---

Mark was the best thing on CNBC. Thanks for those clips, Bob.

Let's be fair to Jim Paulsen of Wells Capital (not Fargo), though. He was making an economist's point in the first clip, not a political point. Here's Jim, a few weeks ago, stressing what would seem to be the other side of the same issue, making the point that economic recoveries since the early Reagan years have suffered not from excessive debt so much as from weak job creation - https://www.wellscap.com/docs/ecomonic_and_market_perspective/EMPUpdate050411.pdf

Posted by peter hill | May 25, 2011 1:28 PM

---

He was the only thing that made having the many TV's in our office tuned to financial news bearable. I loved his sense of humor...

Thanks for acknowledging him today, Bob.

Posted by Candi | May 25, 2011 1:41 PM

---

Bob-
"Haines was the best rationale for having more curmudgeons and fewer makeup artists in today's newsrooms."

From your lips to the Flying Spaghetti Monster's ears.

Posted by Jim Shapiro | May 26, 2011 12:00 PM

---

Post a comment

The following HTML tags are allowed in your comments:
+ Bold: <b>Text</b>
+ Italic: <i>Text</i>
+ Link: <a href="http://url" target="_blank">Link</a>
Fields marked with * are required.

Name*:

E-mail Address*:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments*:

Comment Preview appears above this form upon pressing the "preview" button. Edit your comment and press "preview" again, until you are satisfied with your comment.

Your comment may not appear on the blog until several minutes after it was submitted.

• E-mail this page
• Print this page
• Tweet this page
• Share this

Services

• Hourly Newscast
• HD Radio
• iPhone App / Mobile
• E-mail newsletters
• RSS feeds
• Podcasts
• Submit your photos
• Videos
• Weather
• Most e-mailed stories