Jon Hilsenrath Just Taught Rick Santelli A Lesson About Journalism During A Rowdy Segment On CNBC
"I would like to welcome Jon Hilsenrath ... Listen Jon, and I mean no disrespect ..."
"That's always a loaded introduction to a comment," Hilsenrath responded.
Santelli continued and asked Hilsenrath why reporters throw so many "softball questions" at these press conferences and why Hilsenrath thinks we need Quantitative Easing.
"You're jumping to a whole bunch of conclusions here...Let's start with QE. I don't argue in any of my stories that we either do or don't. I'll explain what I do. I'm a reporter. I do several things. I try to inform the public about what the Fed is up to. People don't like hearing what the Fed is up to then that's part of the process of me informing them. I do think I try to hold them accountable. We ask tough questions at the press conference and elsewhere..."
"What was the question you asked last time?" Santelli pressed.
"How long are you going to stick around? I think a lot of people wanted to know that," Hilsenrath said.
"I don't know. I don't think that's a tough question, Jon."
Santelli told Hilsenrath that the reason that his stories move the markets is because the world at large believes he's sourced.
"That's a reality. You can protest all you want."
Hilsenrath then gave Santelli a lesson in journalism.
"Of course I'm sourced. Every good reporter should be."
Hilsenrath is the Washington, D.C-based correspondent responsible for covering the Fed. It's widely believed that he has better access to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and the rest of the Fed than other reporters out there. He has even earned the nickname "Fed Wire."
Santelli then argued that Hilsenrath doesn't hold people accountable.
"Part of me holding people accountable is holding people like you accountable, Rick," Hilsenrath shot back.
Hilsenrath got Santelli again at the end of the interview.
"Where are all the bad things that you have been saying are going to happen?"
Here's the video: