The impact of Zero Hedge on financial journalism

Alicia McElhaney of Institutional Investor writes about financial analysis site Zero Hedge and its place in financial journalism.

McElhaney writes, “Much of financial media, including The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg — and even Institutional Investor — is either fully or partially behind a paywall. ‘The bulk of consumers and investors who need this news aren’t getting it because they can’t afford to pay for this high level of business news,’ Roush explains.

“And when typical consumers can’t afford to pay high prices for financial news, they go for the low-hanging fruit: free content.

“One of Zero Hedge’s main tenets is exactly that: ‘to widen the scope of financial, economic and political information available to the professional investing public.’ Zero Hedge also aims to ‘attack the flaccid institution that financial journalism has become,’ according to its mission statement.

“Zero Hedge often reposts entire chunks of articles written by reporters for mainstream outlets, giving readers an opportunity to get at least some of the news they may not otherwise be able to afford. The site has also, as Malinen mentions, amplified small bloggers.”

Read more here.