CNBC's ethics problem

Let's see, you're a news organization that covers major corporate goings-on and you hand out "leadership awards" to some of the same people you're supposed to be covering. CNBC televised its third annual Executive Leadership Awards Monday night (the event took place on Jan. 31) and it got Chris Roush at Talking Biz News wondering about, er, a slight conflict of interest. The cable biz channel handed out awards to Citigroup CFO Sallie Krawcheck and the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Google. CNBC will point out that there's a judging panel that makes the final decision (three academics, two retired execs), but the connection between journalism and promotion seems a little too close for comfort. If you have any doubt, consider that one of the companies being recognized, Citigroup, had a senior executive who threw other senior executives off the company plane so that he could ride with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.