TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs criticizes the business media for reporting that French drug company Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb were going to merge and create the world’s largest drug company based on an unsourced French newsletter report.
“The real problem, as I pointed out, came when Reuters ran with the story.
“Reuters mentioned in the second sentence of its piece that the information was unsourced. But to my flawless way of thinking, that should be less a qualifier than a disqualifier. Cagey Reuters even gave itself a little cover with use of the passive voice, saying the premerger deal was ‘thought to have been signed last week.’
“The Business Press Maven added that for all he knew (which was nothing), a merger agreement could have been signed last week but that Reuters was being irresponsible in reporting it, even if at what it believed to be a safe distance. I know how these things play out for investors: An unsourced mention may be first reported as such, but with the news cycle turning so quickly and making news outlets fear being second more than being wrong, the rumor is soon reported as basic fact.”
Read more here.
Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…
Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…
In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…
Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…
Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…
Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…