Categories: OLD Media Moves

Some business media more impressive than others

Syndicated columnist Malcolm Berko advises a reader pare his business media offerings down to just a few publications when looking for investment information. He likes The Economist, Fortune, BusinessWeek and Forbes, among others, but doesn’t like Investor’s Business Daily and The Wall Street Journal.

Berko wrote, “Business Week presents topical information, well-written with enough depth to assist you in making the right decisions.

Barron’s is a must and I’ve been a Barron’s devotee since the Roosevelt administration — Teddy’s. Its articles are superbly written and unlike the comic book presentations of Kiplinger, Money, Worth and Smart Money (cancel all of them), Barron’s is written for the intelligent investor so he can make logical and informed decisions.

“Meanwhile, your Global Investor is dry as dust and about as useful.

“The Wall Street Journal doesn’t tickle my tonsils. It tries to cover too much with too little and is basically an adult version of IBD. Cancel the WSJ.”

Read more here.

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

  • The guy would be the best off if he cancelled all those subscriptions and just indexed. His second best option would be to just subscribe to MONEY, which doesn't try to trick the reader into thinking they can beat the market by throwing 20 stocks and 30 mutual funds picks at each week or two. Berko, if you have covered the market since Teddy R.'s admin, and you haven't figured out that you can't beat the market by now you are more of a dolt than your writing makes you sound.

  • Come on there must be more of you out there who think this guy is total buffoon. Does any one read this blog?

  • Mr. Gandel makes a fine point: many of these magazines and newsletters cater to investors' tendency to confuse an air of sophistication with sound advice. Unsophisticated investors who get tips from "comic book" magazines haven't done worse than their Barron's-reading peers. Just check out the long-term performance of your favorite index fund.

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