This is business news?

TheDeal.com executive editor Yvette Kantrow wants to know why the New York Times is writing stories in its business section about a gossip web site that focuses on Britney Spears and TheStreet.com is launching a new web site devoted to celebrity news called MainStreet.com.

Kantrow wrote, “The blogosphere has already done a pretty good job commenting on the general inanity of MainStreet.com. But to us the site seems like the logical next step for a financial news biz that is determined to become, well, less financial. First, Portfolio launched with its promise of being a business pub for people who don’t like business; next, Fox Business News went live, vowing to be more Main Street than Wall Street. That’s resulted in stories like ‘The Britney Economy’ in Portfolio’s February issue, and segments on Fox Business like ‘The Biz of Sex,’ which featured a Penthouse model talking about her attempt to break into mainstream acting. ‘I don’t do pornos; it’s only the centerfolds,’ the model reassures.

“OK, so that’s where she draws her line. But where does the financial news biz draw its? Teasing a pseudo-Britney item on your front page or using Uno for a piece on pet insurance may seem like a far cry from ‘pornos,’ but is it? How long before more financial media outlets embrace the tabloid strategy of their professed nemesis, Rupert Murdoch, and simply splash photos of busty women on their pages?

“Look, we don’t mean to suggest that financial journalism has to be dry and dense to be worthwhile. But approaching business and its kissing cousin, personal finance, as a form of infotainment doesn’t seem like the right approach, even if Main Street-whatever that is-is your target audience. Lots of people have retirement savings and paychecks riding on a stock market they barely understand. Others are dealing with mortgages they can’t afford. Now is not the time to treat finance as just another pop culture story. Titillating though they might be, Britney’s sad travails offer no object lessons on how to manage your money.”

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