Paul: <<Upon deep and intense of meditation over the past couple o' minutes, I see the ownership of individual equities by CNBC personalities to be my greatest concern. Conflict of interest.>>
Personally, I wish that every financial reporter was an active investor (with full disclosure, of course). One of the problems with many reporters is they seem to have no real understanding of the fundamentals of investing, and are only able to parrot back whatever they're told by their sources. Anything which gives them a better understanding of the subject they cover is a plus, IMO. The risks of a conflict of interest occurring which affects their bias is minimal and can be handled with a proper set of guidelines. Anyone who wants to be dishonest will do so anyway (remember R. Foster Winans of the WSJ?).
Anyway, I'm one of those who considers the phrase "objective reporting" an oxymoron. Reporters will always have built in biases and hidden agendas, such as doing a favor for a source, or highlighting the sensational aspects of a story to make it more interesting. An interest in a stock, if disclosed by the reporter, at least has the advantage of being clearly in view of the audience who will then be able to make their own judgement as to its affect on the story.
FWIW,
Mark |
