The Fox Business PR machine

Douglas McIntyre, the editor of 24/7 Wall St., writes Monday about the e-mail messages he receives from the public relations staff at Fox Business Network and the fact that they have nothing to do with the stock market, which is what his readers care about.

McIntyre writes, “The queer thing about all these messages from Fox Business is that they do not have anything to do with reporting on the stock market, the economy, the credit crisis, or corporate earnings. The releases are, by their nature, scurrilous. They take away from any reasonable debate over the quality or competition within the news media.

“We asked the PR people at Fox Business who the general manager or executive producer at their channel is. 24/7 got a note back saying ‘I’ll give you a call to discuss. What’s your number?’ When we didn’t call, Fox called us and left a message. But, it seems like an easy question to answer, Who runs your company? Which manager has nothing better to do with his or her time than to get the PR department to send out useless e-mails?

“Readers may think we are doing CNBC a favor by taking this position. But, we are not allowed to go on CNBC either, and don’t watch it. Being on TV does not get any extra readers. Watching television business news can make your hair hurt.  And, we don’t have a big enough budget to pay for cable.”

Read more here. 24/7 Wall St. editors are not allowed to appear on either network.