Ritholtz: WSJ is no longer a must-read for investors

Investor and blogger Barry Ritholtz argues that the changes at The Wall Street Journal in terms of coverage and story placement make it less relevant to the people who were previously its core audience — investors.

Ritholtz writes, “My bottom line for content is performance — if I can rely on something to provide me insight and information, it becomes a steady part of the media diet. Once I suspect they are no longer capable of that simple investor service, they go on a short leash. Eventually, they reveal themselves as money makers or money losers, and today, the WSJ crossed that line. They are now money losers to those who read them.

“Quite a difference a few years make.

“A specific article that led to this sad conclusion? The most egregious example (of many) I noticed was this front page headline: New Bank Rules Sink Stocks.  This is the sort of silly headline I expect from lesser media outlets, not the Journal. Without getting too philosophical, we know that day-to-day action is mostly nonsense. Selecting a causal factor from the cacophony of news releases, earnings, price data is all but impossible.  There is a whole lot of noise, and very little signal. Assigning a definitive causative factor is at best a guessing game, at worst an exercise in futility.”

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