When robots write business news
CFO magazine has an interesting item about how Thomson Financial and Reuters are now both using computers to help write news stories. At Thomson, computers are writing some earnings stories. The downside, according to one person quoted in the story, is that when companies realize that it’s computers writing the stories about their earnings and […]
How Philly Inquirer biz coverage changed with new owner
Editor & Publisher’s Joe Strupp examined how business news coverage changed at the Philadelphia Inquirer after the paper was sold in the Knight-Ridder/McClatchy deal to local owners, including Bruce Toll, whose brother is the CEO of local homebuilder Toll Bros. Â Strupp wrote, “The Philadelphia Inquirer had written about Horsham, Pa.-based Toll Brothers Inc. numerous […]
WSJ union and its recruiting tactics
The New York Post is reporting Tuesday that the union representing journalists at the Wall Street Journal has been aggressive in trying to get non-union journalists at Dow Jones & Co. to sign up. Janet Whitman and Keith Kelly wrote, “Several journalists at the financial publisher’s newswire operation in Jersey City have started complaining about […]
Oh lord, don't you buy me, a Mercedes-Benz
Auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is upset with coverage in Consumer Reports magazine that lists the most and least reliable cars. Not surprisingly, the Mercedes vehicles are not highly ranked. Alex Taylor III from Fortune wrote, “But what is striking about Mercedes’ performance is its consistency. Of the 11 models reviewed by Consumers, none are recommended. Seven […]
LA Times' biz section favored by readers
The Los Angeles Times business section is the most-favored section of the paper, according to a survey of readers and non-readers done by the FishBowlLA blog. The blog stated, “The top two favorite sections were Business and Calendar, with ‘None’ tying for third with Sports. Real Estate and Op/Ed came in at a close fourth. […]
H-P earnings stories, save WSJ, miss the mark
TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs examined the coverage Friday of computer company Hewlett-Packard’s earnings, and he believes that the wire services missed what caused the drop in the stock price. The reason it dropped, he argued, was that the company was forecasting the same growth even after a restructuring. It had nothing to do with the scandal […]
CEO calls cops on Wall Street Journal reporter
Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com, apparently called the police on a Wall Street Journal who was looking into the huge mansion he was building in Hawaii, according to the Silicon Valley website Valleywag. Valleywag wrote, “The Journal avoided mention of the clash when the piece went to print. You may remember the reporter’s name, […]
Fun with the new SEC search function
On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that company filings would now be searchable through a new function on the agency’s web site. This afternoon was the first time that I’ve had to play around with it, and I must say that I am duly impressed. Here is what you get when you search […]
Not guilty pleas in Hewlett-Packard spy case
Former Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn and other former company executives pleaded not guilty to charges that they illegally obtained information about board members and business journalists to discover who was leaking information about the company. Pete Carey of the San Jose Mercury News wrote, “Dunn, who ordered the investigation, and four others have been charged […]
Attorney: Eichenwald missed story in Lay coverage
John Hueston, a partner at Irell & Manella in Los Angeles and the former lead prosecutor at the trial of disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay, now says that former New York Times reporter Kurt Eichenwald’s writing about the Lay case “missed the mark,” according to a story in Corporate Crime Reporter. In 2003, Eichenwald wrote […]
