Coverage of new SEC initiative lacking — with some exceptions

Former BusinessWeek writer Gary Weiss writes on his blog Wednesday that coverage of a new Securities and Exchange Commission initiative on short selling has been shallow except for commentators from Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal.

Weiss writes, “Media coverage of SEC chairman Chris Cox’s ‘naked short selling’ publicity stunt has suffered from the usual shortcomings of SEC coverage: naiveté, credulousness, and a tendency to accept pronouncements from our toothless watchdogs at face value. Nothing really terrible, just mediocrity and lack of skepticism.

“There have been, however, some reassuring exceptions over the past couple of days.

“In a commentary today, Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg expertly dissects Cox’s emergency order for the fear-mongering fraud that it is:

“‘Forget naked short sellers. The fellow who isn’t wearing any clothes is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox,’ he said.

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