This morning's New York Times reports that The General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) CNBC reporter Maria Bartiromo helped squelch a story by her colleague Charles Gasparino. The story involved the resignation of Todd Thomson from Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C).

I've been wondering whether this story had gone dark. But it looks like it just went into the in-depth reporting phase. Now the New York Times has arrived with this bombshell.

What happened is that CNBC's head of news programming, Jonathan Wald, asked Gasparino to investigate Bartiromo's trip on Citigroup's corporate jet with Thomson. Gasparino did so. But when Bartiromo got wind of it -- and specifically the notion that Thomson's job status was threatened -- she complained to Wald. And for some reason, Gasparino did not discuss his reporting on the air. Moreover, some in the network complain that Bartiromo's complaint was the culprit. Wald suggested that the sourcing for the story was not strong enough to air it.

Now the media is starting to analyze her on-air interviews. Some of them, such as the one with former Home Depot (NYSE: HD) CEO Bob Nardelli, were tough. Since she had no business tie to HD, she felt free to "pepper him with sharp questions relating to his conduct and governance." But, as I posted a few weeks ago, her business tie to Citigroup probably led to a much friendlier style when it came to interviewing Thomson in August 2005.

Here's an idea: Why not hold CNBC reporters to the same disclosure standards to which it holds its on-air guests?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns shares of Citigroup and GE and has no financial interest in Home Depot or The New York Times.

My children, it must be admitted, love television. As I'm a financial type who works from home, they're often subjected to my TV choices; so they know Maria Bartiromo and Rachael Ray well, much like faraway telegenic aunts.

If a recent trademark filing is any indication, they soon may get to know Maria even better, not as a CNBC reporter (nor as the center of a scandal involving special treatment by Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) bigwig Todd Thomson) but as the cartoon "Money Honey."

No, really! TVNewser was tipped off on the filing, in the name of Bartiromo, Maria for Money Honey to be used for "Entertainment services, namely, an ongoing children's television series; motion picture films; theatrical programs; fan club services; online entertainment services, namely information, interactive games ..." and, of course, more. It's just been filed, on January 16th. I've filed many a trademark application, and in my opinion, this looks as if it was done up in 30 minutes. I'm sure the attorneys at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz billed a whole hour for it though... No word on whether the resulting show might be live-action or animated.

While I love the concept (it's far prettier than Warren Buffett's animated series, though a little less fun), the timing leaves something to wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder... did Maria file in anticipation of a brou-ha-ha resulting in calls for CNBC to fire her? Had she just discovered that her biggest fan's Sundance deal was going to fall through, and this was the next-best thing? Is it just a complete coincidence?

Like they say on Psych, there's no such thing as coincidence.

January 23rd's departure of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) executive Todd Thomson may have been helped along by his use of Citigroup's corporate jet to fly General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) CNBC reporter, Maria Bartiromo from Asia. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Todd & Maria-gate Memo will follow the ongoing saga.

The New York Times Company's (NYSE: NYT) New York Times [subscription required] reports this morning that Maria Bartiromo has repeatedly appeared at events sponsored by CNBC advertisers. Are CNBC advertisers, in effect, paying for good press? Bartiromo's August 2005 interview with Thomson makes me wonder.

Bartiromo's attended alot of corporate events -- some for companies on which she's reported. For example, in 2006, she appeared at 46 events three of which were on behalf of Citigroup. She also appeared at events for Google, Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG), Charles Schwab Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHW) and Dow Jones Company (NYSE: DJ), which publishes the Wall Street Journal.

As noted earlier, Bartiromo -- who is married to Jonathan Steinberg, son of financier Saul Steinberg -- flew back from Asia on Citigroup's corporate jet. She also flew back from Davos last year on Citigroup's jet and appeared at a Citigroup-sponsored awards event in London in 2005, as co-host of the event with another CNBC anchor, Simon Hobbs.

Maria Bartiromo, who rose to fame as CNBC's Money Honey during the bull market of the 90s, should be fired for showing incredible lapses in judgment regarding her relationship with ousted Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) executive Todd Thomson.

One of the cardinal rules of journalism is that you aren't supposed to write about or show favor toward your friends. The Wall Street Journal's (subscription required) expose of Bartiromo's relationship with Thomson shows that they were at a minimum buddies.

What's more disturbing, however, is CNBC's reluctance to look into the matter further. I'd like to know if CNBC ever reimbursed Citigroup for Bartiromo's air travel. Moreover, doesn't the channel's corporate owner General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) have an ethics rule or two about employes accepting gratuities from clients? Citigroup, after all, after all does by advertising on CNBC.

But I guess CNBC like most media organization has a thin skin. It is eager to expose faults in others but when it comes to its own problems forget it.

Jonathan Berr is the editor of http://www.desperateinvestors.com

Yesterday's departure of Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) executive Todd Thomson may have been helped along by his use of Citigroup's corporate jet to fly General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) CNBC reporter, Maria Bartiromo from Asia. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Todd & Maria-gate Memo will follow the ongoing saga.

This morning's Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reports that Todd Thomson used $5 million of his Citigroup marketing budget to finance a Sundance Channel program which was slated to be hosted by Robert Redford and Maria Bartiromo. [Bartiromo is no longer slated to host this program].

But wait, there's more. In 2005, current Chief Operating Officer Bob Druskin spotted Thomson having dinner with Bartiromo at the ritzy Daniel restaurant while Druskin was hosting a holiday dinner there for his investment banking management team.

Last November, Thomson flew Bartiromo to speak to Citigroup's private-banking clients at luncheons in Hong Kong and Shanghai. He flew with a group of Citigroup employees to Asia, but flew back to the U.S. on the corporate jet with Bartiromo.

After this November incident, Citigroup CEO, Chuck Prince, asked Thomson to stop spending Citigroup money on Bartiromo. Six weeks later, Thomson surprised Prince with The Sundance sponsorship announcement. This prompted Thomson's departure.

This saga raises questions of interest to Citigroup and GE investors, including:

• After all of Prince's blunders, are Citigroup directors debating his fate?
• Was GE CEO, Jeff Immelt, involved in approving Bartiromo's $48,000 flight from Asia on Citigroup's jet?
• Will GE require CNBC anchors to disclose their business relationships with the companies they cover?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, a Professor of Management at Babson College, and editor of The Cohan Letter. He has appeared as a guest on CNBC and owns Citigroup and GE stock.

This morning's New York Times reports that Citigroup Inc.'s (NYSE: C) Todd Thomson was ousted from his role as head of global wealth management yesterday.

Thomson, a former Bain consultant and Citigroup CFO who in 2005 touted that role as "the conscience of a company", was hired from General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) by former CEO Sanford Weill. According to the New York Times, Thomson had disagreements with Citigroup CEO, Chuck Prince, over acquisitions and business strategy.

But the kicker was that Thomson arranged to make Citigroup's corporate jet available to GE's NBC Universal's CNBC reporter, Maria Bartiromo, so she could fly to Asia. Beyond a DealBreaker Blind Item suggesting that Bartiromo may have played a part in Thomson's leaving his wife and family, this event raises troubling governance questions:

• What did Prince know about this and when did he know it?
• Are there other governance issues at Citigroup that Prince has yet to clean up?
• Why can't CNBC arrange transportation for its employees on its own?
• Doesn't this cozy relationship with Citigroup compromise the objectivity of Bartiromo's reporting on Citigroup?
• Have other companies arranged such travel for Bartiromo or other CNBC reporters?

While CNBC noted that it paid for the plane trip, it looks like CNBC and Citigroup have some more explaining to do.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, a Professor of Management at Babson College, and editor of The Cohan Letter. He has appeared as a guest on CNBC and owns Citigroup and GE stock.

In the new issue of Business Week, Maria Bartiromo conducts an excellent interview with Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein about his outlook for private equity in 2007.

Rubenstein predicts more money going into emerging markets, and he said the Carlyle Group will double its investment in Asia this year. He is also weary of increased government regulation of private equity groups, and provided a great quote: "The Declaration of Independence says we're supposed to pursue happiness, but when people are too happy, the government doesn't like it."

If other private equity groups follow Carlyle's lead of doubling up on Asia this year, emerging markets could see a buyout-fueled bull market similar to what the United States saw in 2006. I suspect that exchange-traded funds could be the best way to make that bet.