Tv, Cnbc | featured news

Mark Haines, co-anchor of CNBC's morning "Squawk on the Street" show and one of the business news network's most recognized faces, died unexpectedly on Tuesday evening, the network said. He was 65.

NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker leapt to the defense of CNBC this morning, describing Comedy Central host Jon Stewart's evisceration of the network and Mad Money host Jim Cramer as "incredibly unfair to CNBC and the business media."

"CNBC is a spectacular organization and in particular Jim Cramer," he said.

In the first three days of this week, CNBC's Business Day programming block was down 10 percent in the key demographic of adults 25-to-54 versus the same period the week before, and down 11 percent among total viewers. Meanwhile, Mad Money was also down 10 percent in the 25-to-54 demographic, but only 4 percent among all viewers -- suggesting that maybe some of those bored college kids who watch Jon Stewart did, in fact, tune in to find out exactly what is the deal with this Jim Cramer character.