‘India can lead US and the world through the slowdown’

Erin Burnett is perhaps the most popular American business news anchor, reporter and interviewer for CNBC television. She was chosen as the “hottest” financial news anchor in an online poll on the Wall Street gossip blog Dealbreaker.com.
Burnett is the host of some of CNBC’s popular programmes such as ‘Street Signs’.
She also co-anchors ‘Squawk on the Street.’
Burnett, who was in Mumbai recently, spoke to DNA Money’s Nirmal John about media and more in India and the US. Excerpts:

The business media space is booming in India. What has been your experience thus far of the Indian media?
That’s part of the reason why I came here. You see, everywhere there’s talk about how India and China are powering the global economy, especially with the weakness in the US.
It’s amazing how many business publications are here in India. In the aftermath of the Jaipur blast, I was amazed at all the different angles and stories in the media. In many ways it is indistinguishable from what you see in the US. And in many ways it seems to me that in the Indian media, there is more passion, more arguments, and more dialogue in the pages of newspapers. You have the loudest and largest democracy and you see it. In terms of television, one of the stories we are doing from here is on Disney. They came to India only three years ago and it is now the biggest investment for the company outside United States, which is incredible.

How much of importance do the US media accord to Indian news, particularly business news?
We are giving more and more importance. But this year, there has been an increased focus on China because of the Olympics. That’s part of the reason why I wanted to do my show from here. The Indian growth story is as significant, and in many ways more exciting and accessible, to American viewers because of the similarity between the two countries in terms of democracy and free markets. The Indian finance minister was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal recently. We’ve also done a programme with him. So, Indian news does get coverage, but it is only secondary to China.

Generally, Americans are said to be closed, not interested in things happening around the world. How has this changed post 9/11?
Country music is very popular in the US. There is a song written post 9/11 that says - ‘I didn’t know the difference between Iraq and Iran but now I do.’
You’re right. Americans, can be extremely closed sometimes. But now they do know more about certain regions of the world. It is again a part of the reason why I am doing shows from Dubai and India - to have Americans realise that the centre of gravity has since shifted in a world that was dominated by one economy to a world that is going to be dominated by several economies.
For America, it is a great challenge and a big opportunity. There is a fear in America, no doubt, about the growth of other countries.

Tell us, in the media person’s perspective, about the slowdown in the US?
There’s a real slowdown, but what everybody is debating is whether it would become any deeper than this. Every single CEO that I’ve spoken to and every major company said they didn’t have an answer.
But there are things which are different now compared to earlier slowdowns. It is not just the United States. You do have India and you have China. Ok, the US slowdown is affecting India, China and other markets but not by a huge margin.
India was growing at 9% and now it might become 8%, as the CFO of ICICI Bank told us. That is a drop yes, but it is still a significantly high number. From that perspective, it might be places like India that might help United States and the rest of the world come through this slowdown.

The US presidential race seems to have caught the fancy of the world…
It is one of the most exciting elections that America has had in a long time. In terms of television ratings, the numbers are unbelievably high this time around.
The level of interest of Americans in these elections is something that has never been seen before. It is great that Americans are feeling passionate about a change in leadership. The fact that there is a woman and a non-white candidate in the running is all contributing to the excitement. This simply proves that America has come a long way.

You started your career with an investment bank. Why then switch to journalism?
I didn’t go to a journalism school. I went to a liberal arts school, but then I didn’t have my heart set on anything. I decided to do investment banking just to give it a try.

Once you are in a particular job, after a while you look at yourself and say- ‘Do I want to be doing this in 10 years?’
I just didn’t seem to agree that it was the right thing for me.
So, I wrote a letter to a TV anchor in the US and it was sheer luck that at that time she wanted someone with a financial background and I was called.

You are a celebrity back in the US. How do you balance that kind of fame with the need to be a serious newscaster?
It’s funny. You don’t think of yourself apart from the person you were five or 10 years ago. You remain the same. In that sense, you never get used to it and it becomes kind of amusing. But you just have to try and ignore it because if you believe in the good stuff, it is fine when it is true. But if you see the bad stuff, you have to hope that it is not true. The bottom line is that you have to take out all the bad and take out all the good and see what you’ve got.

n_john@dnaindia.net