Reuters columnist who resigned due to ethical concerns now writing for FT
Roy Greenslade of The Guardian in London reports that Neil Collins, who resigned in controversial circumstances from Thomson Reuters in October last year, has returned to the business press by writing for the Financial Times. Greenslade reports, “He started a weekly column on the FT Alphaville site, called Something for the weekend, earlier this month. […]
Fox Business Network’s Gasparino says Morgan Stanley threatened him
Huffington Post reports that Fox Business Network reporter Charles Gasparino believes he received a death threat from a Morgan Stanley representative on Friday. The post states, “Earlier in the day, he published an exclusive story about how James Gorman, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, called some analysts on Thursday to tell them that despite rumors, […]
Attorney files lawsuit against LA Times business columnist
An attorney filed a class action accusing Los Angeles Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik of recording telephone conversations without his interviewees’ consent, in violation of state wiretap law. Matt Reynolds of Courthouse News Service writes, “Silverman claims Hiltzik’s conduct not only violated state law but the newspaper’s ethic guidelines, which state: ‘People who will be […]
Conflicts of interest and business journalism
Gordon Crovitz, the former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, writes in Monday’s Journal about conflicts of interest in the wake of the brouhaha over whether TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington can invest in startups and still write about them for the tech news site. Crovitz writes, “Put another way, some of the smartest venture capitalists […]
Why anonymous sources are important in covering business
Henry Blodget of The Business Insider writes about why his site grants anonymity to sources and why that’s a necessity in covering business news. Blodget writes, “In the business world, ~99.999% of potential sources are not authorized to speak to the media–on background or on the record. Most of the rest, meanwhile, write press releases. […]
AOL decides to terminate Arrington
Dan Primack of Fortune is reporting that AOL has decided to terminate TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, who has started a venture capital fund to invest in tech companies. Primack writes, “Instead, Fortune has learned that AOL executives have decided to terminate Arrington. It is unclear how this will officially occur. Maybe a pink slip. Maybe […]
TechCrunch writer fears the site is doomed
M.G. Siegler, a writer on the tech news site TechCrunch, writes that its new owner AOL is ruining the site with its handling of founder Michael Arrington, who was removed from overseeing it after starting a venture capital fund. Siegler writes, “Could TechCrunch survive without Mike Arrington? Probably. We’re doing so many pageviews now, and […]
Ethics and reporting on tech companies
New York Times business columnist David Carr does not like the move by AOL to invest in the venture capital fund being run by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington and that it’s allowing Arrington to continue to write for the tech news site, even for free. Carr writes, “One of the sharpest critiques of this conflation […]
Business journalists and a code of ethics for economists
Felix Salmon of Reuters was interviewed by Craig Silverman about a proposed code of ethics for the American Economists Association and how that might affect the relationship between economists and business journalists. Here are some excerpts: If you were aware of it, I’m wondering if you have thoughts on whether this presents a problem for […]
Madoff cancels interview with Gasparino of Fox Business
Charles Gasparino of Fox Business Network reports that convicted Ponzi scheme Bernie Madoff has canceled an interview with him after Gasparino reported that Harvard Business School said it was not working with Madoff to teach ethics at the school, something that Madoff has told Gasparino. Gasparino writes, “Madoff also doesn’t like being called an egomaniac. […]
