The problem with Buffett's relationship with biz journalists

Yvette Kantrow, the executive editor of The Deal, finds plenty to fault with Warren Buffett’s recent decision to have three business journalists — Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times, Becky Quick of CNBC and Carol Loomis of Fortune — ask the questions at his company’s annual meeting.

Kantrow writes, “By so doing, the argument went, Buffett ensured that this year’s love-in, er, meeting, had a ‘serious tone’ befitting the fact that shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. are down 40% from their peak. With results like that and the economy in the toilet, the reasoning went, we shouldn’t waste a moment of the Oracle’s precious time with frivolous questions about Paris Hilton.

“OK, true enough. Perhaps the presence of Sorkin, Loomis and Quick ensured that this year’s meeting was more high-minded than in the past — a little less Woodstock, a little more Davos. But their participation is a reminder of how Buffett has an entirely different relationship with the media than any other CEO; how Buffett is viewed more like a statesman than a mere money-grubbing CEO. And how access to Buffett is viewed very differently from access to other high officials.Â

“Now this isn’t the biggest issue since Jayson Blair. Buffett’s complex relationship with the press is nothing new, with the most shop-worn example being his ties to Loomis, who helps edit his annual reports, and her home (and arguably his), Fortune magazine, whose cover he graced yet again a few weeks ago, touting an electric car made by a Chinese company Berkshire invested in last year. (Never mind that it was Buffett’s sidekick, Charlie Munger, who discovered the company. Fortune’s cover screams, ‘Buffett’s Electric Car.’)”

Read more here. Kantrow argues that the situation shows how the biz media still perceives CEOs as financial heroes.