Weiss: Terry III has been good for BW

Former BusinessWeek reporter Gary Weiss, who now writes a column for Forbes.com called Muckraker, comments on his blog this morning about a New York Times story on his former boss — McGraw-Hill CEO Terry McGraw. NcGraw-Hill is the parent of BusinessWeek.

Weiss wrote, “He got a lot of razzing for that from some people at BW, and it proved to be unfair. He has succeeded smashingly by pretty much any measure.

“I had few dealings with Terry, directly or indirectly, and that’s one of the best things any investigative reporter can say about a CEO. Not once did I ever hear about any effort to influence, through Terry, the content of any of the tough stories I had written or were in the pipeline.

“In fact, he was a stalwart advocate in the stormiest of times.

“I thought back on Terry during the recent controversy over Sharesleuth, Mark Cuban’s insider trading vehicle. Whatever else one may say about Terry McGraw, it would have been inconceivable for he or his predecessors to have profited from upcoming stories in Business Week. Cuban, by contrast, has turned a taboo into a ‘business model.'”

Read more here.