I have basically seen Twitter up to this point as a pleasant distraction. One of the effects however of this real time newsstream is the instant newsflow, and I was immediately saddened to hear about Mark Haines passing away yesterday. Lots of people are offering up their experiences with Mark as a tribute so I thought I would mention mine, albeit brief meeting with Mark.
Mark and Erin were my favorite team at CNBC, and I was estatic when I had the chance to sit down with them at the NYSE a few years ago. I remember getting warned by the staff that Mark could be just a little bit gruff and ornery, so to be prepared. They make you sit on this little pulpit waiting for your turn to go on air, and there are a few minutes during commercial where you get to sit down before going on.
Mark introduced (more of a kind of half acknowledgement rather) himself with what I would describe as a skeptical “who is this young kid and WTF does he know about markets?”. He then proceded to continue a rant he was having, now transferred to me, about how these guys come on air and think they are somehow going to get Erin Burnett’s telephone #. I responded with a serious “would it be ok if I could get it then?” to which Mark responded with a “I am going to cut your f&king head off and eat it” look of total distain. I burst our laughing, and after that we kidded around a bit and (hopefully) broke down his guard a little.
The interview was over in a few minutes, but I will say the world has lost a great reporter. I’m headed back to NYSE to ring the bell for GTAA and am truly sad Mark will not be there and to Mark’s family, he will truly be missed!!
