"Business news is sexy"
About this Quote
Calling business news "sexy" is a deliberate act of rebranding: a push to drag markets out of the beige world of tickers and into the hotter economy of attention. Maria Bartiromo wasn’t just describing a beat; she was selling a format. In the cable era that helped make her a star, news had to compete with entertainment on entertainment’s terms. “Sexy” signals velocity, exclusivity, inside access - the thrill of getting in before everyone else. It recasts quarterly earnings as cliffhangers and CEOs as celebrities, turning a spreadsheet into a storyline.
The subtext is aspirational and a little coercive: if you’re not watching, you’re not serious, not modern, not in the room where power moves. It flatters the viewer into identification with finance itself. “Sexy” also launders complexity. Market coverage can be technical, structural, slow to reveal consequences; the word promises immediacy and emotion instead. That’s a trade-off: it can democratize interest in money and policy, but it can also reward spectacle over substance.
Context matters because Bartiromo emerged when Wall Street was being mainstreamed as lifestyle. 401(k)s, day trading, the boom years, and later crisis coverage turned finance into personal drama with national stakes. In that world, “sexy” isn’t a throwaway adjective. It’s a thesis about what gets airtime - and a quiet reminder that capitalism doesn’t just run on capital; it runs on narrative.
The subtext is aspirational and a little coercive: if you’re not watching, you’re not serious, not modern, not in the room where power moves. It flatters the viewer into identification with finance itself. “Sexy” also launders complexity. Market coverage can be technical, structural, slow to reveal consequences; the word promises immediacy and emotion instead. That’s a trade-off: it can democratize interest in money and policy, but it can also reward spectacle over substance.
Context matters because Bartiromo emerged when Wall Street was being mainstreamed as lifestyle. 401(k)s, day trading, the boom years, and later crisis coverage turned finance into personal drama with national stakes. In that world, “sexy” isn’t a throwaway adjective. It’s a thesis about what gets airtime - and a quiet reminder that capitalism doesn’t just run on capital; it runs on narrative.
Quote Details
| Topic | Business |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bartiromo, Maria. (2026, January 15). Business news is sexy. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/business-news-is-sexy-159143/
Chicago Style
Bartiromo, Maria. "Business news is sexy." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/business-news-is-sexy-159143/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Business news is sexy." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/business-news-is-sexy-159143/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.
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