Why business journalists and investors are different

David Jackson, the founder and CEO of SeekingAlpha.com, argues that investors who write about the markets are better than business journalists.

Jackson writes, “The same is true of investors. They are forced to recognize and avoid herd-thinking, because they live by the metric of investment returns, not pageviews. Investors are constantly scored by the market, unlike journalists who are rarely scored on their predictive accuracy. And investors can only generate abnormal returns with a non-consensus view of a stock, since stock prices embody consensus expectations. This leads to rigorous analysis and a drive to question existing narratives.

“I often wonder what would have happened if Seeking Alpha had existed before WorldCom and Enron melted down. The investors who publish on Seeking Alpha would probably have uncovered those frauds, just as they (and not the business journalists) uncovered this.

“Perhaps this explains why fundamental analysis of stocks by investors provides more original insight, both investment insight and business insight, than traditional journalism. It’s why Seeking Alpha is widely read by business leaders, not just investors.”

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