Financial Blogs and MSM

Our mission at "A Dash" is to help individual investors and traders.  We try to find expertise in various fields and to apply our own strengths — research methods, knowledge of government institutions and practices, and detailed analysis of reports — to attain our objectives.  One of the goals is developing a book, one page at a time.

With respect to Mainstream Media (MSM) we take a role of interpreting, not competing.  We post links to news and blogs only when there is an interesting analytical point.  Other excellent financial blogs, especially those that we feature in our blogroll and read daily, do a wonderful job of pointing out what may be missed in MSM.  The analogies to the political realm, where bloggers discovered facts missed by major TV networks is apparent.

Some financial bloggers, notably The Big Picture, have covered this intersection quite carefully.  Barry Ritholtz’s site has no fewer than 127 posts that include the terms "blogs" and "msm".  Tonight we found a case where this intersection was quite clear.

Discovering an error on the new CNBC website, we could find no easy way to inform them.  A blogger would allow an immediate comment.  Most websites have a "contact us" feature, missing on the CNBC site.  There is a difference in attitude — probably one that will change over time.

A better method for interaction with financial blogs would facilitate the mission for MSM.  These sources would not only improve their message, but would have help in dealing with immediate issues.