Categories: OLD Media Moves

Bloomberg story quoting report paid for by company is corrected

Bloomberg News corrected a story Friday published Thursday that initially quoted an analyst report paid for by the company, BioSolar, and the update story now states that the analyst was paid.

The original story did not disclose that the analyst had been paid for the report.

The story now reads, “Beacon said in a statement distributed Jan. 10 by PR Newswire that it was compensated $15,000 and 100,000 restricted shares by a third party for enrollment of BioSolar in a research program, without giving more specific information. Earlier today, BloggingStocks.com reported the payment.

“‘Any discrepancies in our disclosure was an oversight, if anything, and we will fix the information,’ Jeff Bishop, editor of Beacon, said in a telephone interview Jan. 18. ‘Victor Sula is paid in cash, on salary, and doesn’t have any affiliation with BioSolar.’ Bishop said he doesn’t have a telephone number for Sula, who works in Europe.

“Lee didn’t return phone or e-mail messages Jan. 18 seeking comment on the compensation.”

BloggingStocks.com had earlier criticized the story for not disclosing the conflict of interest.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

View Comments

  • Christallmighty, this blogging stocks guy shows the difference between real journalism and bloggers at their worst. Bloomberg made an error. From what it seems, the disclosure was made in a seperate statement--not the analyst;s report -- and the rpeort simply missed it. Under the pressure of deadlines these things happen. SABEW members should understand this. It looks like when the matter came to light Bloomberg stepped up and corrected the story. That's the right thing to do.
    Instead this moron at bloggingstocks refers to "the garbage" coming out of Bloomberg, but his file never SHOWED that the disclosure was in a separate statement from the company, and implied that the disclosure was in the anaylt's report and Bloomberg "intentionally" skipped it.. That's dishonest and crappy writing.

  • I.F. Stoner,

    With all due respect, Bloomberg completely missed the disclosure as it is, and always has been, in the Beacon Equity Research's report on the stock:

    http://www.beaconequityresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=519&Itemid=62

    Read the fine print down at the bottom. Bloomberg's assertion in the artcile that the disclosure was missing from the report is totally false. They just didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

    I would argue that our piece on Bloomberg's misstep was blogging at its best -- catching serious errors on the part of a major news organization that could have cost investors a lot of money.

    I can certainly deal with being called a "moron", but please do refrain from accusing me of dishonest and crappy writing when our facts were 100% accurate.

    Thanks,

    Zac

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