tv financial experts

tv financial experts

The Role and Impact of Financial Experts in Television Programming

1. Introduction to Financial Experts on TV

Prior research indicates that individuals gain much of their marketplace information through mass media. Descriptive data reveal that a significant portion of financial advice on television comes from “financial experts”. This research explores the characteristics of the leading recognized network news programs displaying market data, and, in an attempt to explain the nearly ubiquitous usage of financial experts, further investigates the determinants of interest in financial experts. Data were collected via content analysis for three weeks on market and non-market factors known to determine major financial interest. Despite the potential wealth of information provided by recognized network news programs displaying market data, the predominant use of financial experts and reliance on traditional sources of financial knowledge lead to concerns about accurate, reliable, and honest financial experts, as well as other influences.

Many individuals look to network television for their financial advice. Recognized network news programs displaying market data, hereinafter considered synonymous with financial news, including Adelante Telemundo, Bloomberg TV, CBS The Early Show, CBS The Early Show Saturday edition, CBS The Evening News with Katie Couric, Fox Business Network, NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, PBS Nightly Business Report, and The Today Show, for the most part depart from the traditional evening news format and provide entertainment and recent news stories for their viewing audience. Statistics and financial experts, such as the CEO of financial services firms, market analysts, and business reporters, are heavily incorporated into programs as well. Individuals involved in shaping market data are recognized as having “market interest.” To remain competitive, recognized network news programs displaying market data tailor their stories to their assembled audience, focusing on market and non-market interest, class, gender, and lifestyle.

2. The Influence and Credibility of TV Financial Experts

By their very nature, TV financial experts claim a position of prominence. When visual and print messages fail to decipher confusion over complex events, decision makers will mobilize technology in the guise of these “experts.” TV professionals are increasingly viewed as a major source of information and importantly have an unparalleled opportunity to form and sustain a link with the financial community. That relationship, through time, promotes trust and, ultimately, a significant measure of credibility. Both of these latter process variables give experts enormous power to influence actions and thereby can potentially influence intended programming outcomes.

Moreover, consider this most basic question embedded in the television specialization process: are financial professionals actually perceived as experts, and if so, by whom and in what regard? What variables suggest this often self-appointed expertise? Likewise, it is discovered whether their expert designations support expert behavior, as well as the question of whether expert intervention improves the quality of their performance. Understanding these significant embedded—yet still subtle—process dynamics follows the so pervasive throughout this relationships continuum theme. At the apex of this perceived expert elegance are individuals who, by virtue of their employment, claim to possess significant expertise. This expertise varies widely, involving specific fields of business, such as banking, and varies across different levels of organizational specificity.

3. Ethical Considerations and Challenges Faced by TV Financial Experts

Once individuals accept an assignment as a TV financial expert, their role is to contribute informed, unbiased, and clear context on the relevant financial matters, which is comprehensible to most householders that watch commercial TV programming. Many of the television pilots or producers know very little about the topics at hand and are finding a set of experts who can fill that role. Many view themselves merely as a conduit connecting the financial experts to the viewers. The vast majority of the time, financial experts are not celebrities in their own right. This guarantees a degree of neutrality. The credibility of the expert is seen to come from his professional experience, expertise, and relatable, strong, and often aggressive arguments. They have a professional responsibility to present evidence as effectively and accurately as possible, based on relevant and sound theories.

Although television pilots and producers say that they want experts who are neutral and objective, the fact remains that much TV content is used as a means of advertising, as a large section of it is sponsored or ‘brought-to-you-by’ the sponsor of the slot or the show. Certainly, most of the time, the expert also makes a financial return for his contribution. This is generally in the form of direct payment by the TV station, the TV production company, or the show sponsor. Other times, it is the indirect ‘advertising’ value of being seen as an expert on a popular TV show that has an audience of hundreds if not thousands of people at any one time.

4. The Future of Financial Expertise in Television Programming

The future of financial TV will depend in large part on where financial experts take us. As financial programming continues to grow and diversify in the years ahead, so will our need for experienced and enthusiastic financial communicators. And yet, as exhibited in the foregoing, the number of those who we might call “skills experts” in this area remains relatively small. Sure, new services – particularly from the world’s trading floors – will continue to emerge. However, the availability of in-depth financial print and television programming does not necessarily presuppose the requisite number of well-prepared communicators. In particular, financial program guests and anchors will in general continue to do quite well on Wall Street: they generally have global credibility in actively managing real money. In contrast, it is the broader skills of imparting that financial entrepreneurial expertise that we’ve sketched above that the new communicators. They will essentially be the same communicators who skillfully “package” financial programming in terms of concept, execution and follow-through. There is therefore a future in television programming for those of us who enjoy communicating entrepreneurial finance. This most dynamic commercial area of our time will continue to reward those who pick this area of the industry as a lifetime occupation.