Stop regurgitating what management says

TheStreet.com’s Marek Fuchs wants to know Monday why the business media seems to have a penchant for similar repeating what management says when it blames outside factors for its performance.

Fuchs wrote, “But I’ve been fascinated by cruise ships as a business, and this morning, I must ask the question: When it comes to the cruise group, is housing the new weather?

“I only ask because in light of Carnival’s first-quarter earnings report Friday, which looked pretty good, it got busy lowering expectations on the important Caribbean market. Or was it raising them? Even three days later, I am unclear, though today might hold the answer in its claw.

“In a somewhat comical turn, articles began to appear, blaming the company’s possible trouble or recovery (like I said, I’m confused) in the Caribbean market on the American housing market and the attendant loan issues. That’s just like the way retailers, most of which are indoors, blame any failure on Mother Nature.

“The business media, with their distant relationship to the concept of independent thought, simply regurgitate what management has said. Tellingly, management and the media rarely credit Mother Nature for good news. That’s always due to brilliant merchandising calls.”

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