Squawk Box Ethics? Skips How Harwood Cozied Up To Clinton Campaign

October 11th, 2016 2:10 PM

The Wikileaks emails are revealing not only how close the press is to Clinton, but how much they’ll hide it. No one on Squawk Box confronted CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood about leaked emails showing him cozying up to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

Wikileaks released emails on Oct. 10, that revealed Harwood complimenting Hillary Clinton to Podesta and critiquing one of her interviews. He even offered up the economic “conversation about the economy she wants.”

No one on Squawk Box confronted Harwood on Oct. 11, about his exchange with Podesta and Harwood didn’t own up to them. Even after anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin specifically asked Harwood about the Wikileaks’ email dump, neither mentioned Harwood’s comments.

The Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics tells journalists to "Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts."

By contrast, Varney & Company discussed on the same day an email in which Podesta complimented Harwood on his performance moderating a Republican primary debate in October of 2015. Podesta asked Harwood how he was doing, to which Harwood responded, “feeling good.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s one campaign working hand in glove with the network” host Stuart Varney said on Oct. 11.

According to Wikileaks, Harwood told Clinton campaign chair John Podesta on Dec. 8, 2015, he imagined that “Obama feels some (sad) vindication at this demonstration of his years-long point about the opposition party veering off the rails.”

“I certainly am feeling that way with respect to how I questioned Trump at our debate,” Harwood added.