Biz Press Maven: No breathless AT&T/BellSouth coverage

Marek Fuchs, the Business Press Maven on TheStreet.com, examined the recent AT&T/BellSouth deal coverage and pronounced that it was full of skepticism and good coverage, unlike past merger coverage in recent years.

Fuchs writes, “Breathlessness was kept to a minimum and journalists did not fall in love with the disparate personalities that were involved, weaving tales about how they would be Yin and Yang — instead of Mr. and Mrs. Rose.

“It’s all a result of what I call ‘devil’s advocacy journalism,’ God bless it.

“Now let’s hop backwards for a second, in the hope that you will learn what sort of mergers lend themselves to good coverage and which tend to be covered in a way that, if followed to the (witless) letter, will have you trading down from Caddy to Chevy.”

“Plain old ‘advocacy journalism’ is, of course, the sort that tries to push a worthy cause. All fine and good except when the journalist defines a worthy cause as the latest in splashy, high profile mega-merger. Name one, you ask. How about two?”

Read his analysis here.