IR counselors, journalists feel your pain - albeit from a different perspective. The nation's top financial media continue to feel crunched by 24-hour trading, investors'
insatiable appetites for online news and increasing public skepticism about blurry lines separating financial fact from opinion.
While media organizations covering the financial markets try to avoid "show-up and throw-up journalism," the pressure to break news is heavier than ever, Bloomberg News editor-
in-chief Matt Winkler told an audience of roughly 1,200 at the Security Traders Association annual conference, held last month in Boca Raton. Today's frenzied news cycle makes it
harder for reporters to weave critical thinking into the journalistic process, he said.
Other participants in the media panel discussion, moderated by Richard Torrenzano, chairman and CEO of the financial communications firm, The Torrenzano Group, concurred.
"Taking time to get the story behind the story is probably the biggest challenge I face today as an editor," said Larry Ingrassia, editor of the Money & Investing section of
The Wall Street Journal. "Today, we have become more real-time focused. It's a sacrifice, because I have reporters who come across something and say, 'Boy, this is a
really good story if we get behind it,' and I have to figure out a way to carve out time for them, while making sure we don't get beat on breaking events in the areas they
cover."
CNBC, for one, is keeping pace with heightened market activity by adding two to four additional staffers to cover after-hours trading from 4 to 8 p.m., noted station anchor Ron
Insana. The move is a preemptive one, to avoid missing stories like the recent 25% drop in Lucent's stock price that occurred during after-hours trading. While overall trading
volume in the after hours market remains low, stories involving such huge dives in price nevertheless must be covered, Insana said.
The Journal's philosophy on after-hours coverage differs, however. Ingrassia argued that the closing bell continues to offer the best measure of market performance (for
now). He likened post-bell trading to "a party that no one came to. If you build it, they won't come, or they won't come right away."
Dan Colarusso, associate editor with TheStreet.com, agreed that the closing bell remains significant because liquidity ends with it. But he wondered aloud how much longer it
will be before trading becomes a continuous cycle, in which 4 p.m. no longer matters. Colarusso attributed the ongoing popularity of newspaper (as opposed to online) stock charts
to the ever-narrowing "digital divide" - a chasm he predicted will close within the next two years.
Panelists also bantered on the subject of objectivity in financial reporting, spurred by an observation that today's coverage walks a fine line. At issue are situations in
which reporters add "context" to stories, Colarusso said, referencing a recent statement by Bear Stearns that it would consider being acquired for $120 per share. "No one would
buy it for that price," he said. That's the kind of context readers expect in stories - and the kind of analysis that differentiates a financial news organization from its
competitors.
Kandel added that ethical problem areas arise, however, when journalists cover news stories as reporters and then, in different forums, express their opinions on the news
they've covered. He illustrated his point by noting a conflict of interest between Sam Donaldson's role as a White House correspondent during the week vs. his opinionated
punditry on Sunday mornings.
SEC chairman Arthur Levitt added yet another dimension to the discussion, weighing in with an observation about Regulation FD (which now requires corporations to disclose
information simultaneously to the widest possible audience) and its potential to disintermediate the press entirely (PRN, Oct. 23). He said he finds the present arguments
against the regulation insulting.
"It suggests that American investors really need intermediaries to tell them what to buy," he told the panel. "That they need certain interpretations to make sound judgments.
I'm not as worried as you are about lower-level people feeding information into the marketplace. This is probably the best informed market anytime in the history of our
markets."
(Rich Mulieri, Richard Torrenzano, The Torrenzano Group, 212/681-1700)