Fed Transparency: A Step Forward or a Misstep?

The U.S. Federal Reserve is ready to talk.

Next week, on April 27th, Fed Chief Ben Bernanke will break nearly 100 years of tradition at the U.S. central bank hold the first ever regularly scheduled media briefing after a FOMC policy meeting.

It's a historic shift for an institution whose decisions were shrouded in secrecy, but Mr. Bernanke has been championing greater transparency since he took the Fed's top job back in 2006.

The Fed says the introduction of regular media briefings is 'intended to further enhance the clarity and timeliness of its monetary policy communication,' and a lot of people agreed, saying it will allow the central bank to provide a more nuanced message on monetary policy.

But there are a lot who say the opposite; that Bernanke's push to talk is a bad idea.

Chief among the criticism is the risk factor. Just one word out of place, even as a mistake, could hit the markets.

Others believe it's simply more effective to remain mysterious, pointing to the ECB as an example of a central bank that still sends mixed messages, despite its own media briefings.

Others are even more intimate with their criticism saying Bernanke's four time a year public address means he'll just become another talking head in a sea of talking heads.

But what do you think?

That's our Squawk Stats question of the week.