A panel of journalists and media relations staff, who participated in a forum at the Commerce School yesterday, accused finance reporters of not adequately scrutinizing the finances of the technology businesses they were covering in the late 1990s and contributing to the misperception that the companies were successful.
"I don't think reporters in the late '90s and even until a couple of years ago took a good look at financial statements," said Chris Roush, editor-in-chief of SNL Financial, which publishes financial magazines.
Journalists contributed to the misperception that these companies were profitable by concentrating on the personalities of the CEOs of the technology companies instead of the businesses' basic financial statements, said Mike Corrado, director of media relations for the New York consulting firm Accenture.
"A lot of the business stories were not being covered as business stories, but as personality stories," he added.
"I believe reporters are the ones to blame for giving these companies a free ride," Roush agreed.
Most financial journalists do not verify information from their sources, according to Angus Robertson, an independent media consultant.
"Unless it becomes a big Enron-type story, nine times out of 10, what's in the paper is exactly what the company told the reporter," he said.
This poor financial journalism was the result of the increased interest in financial issues in the late 1990s that compelled newspapers to run more finance stories, Corrado said.
"It was like the over-expansion of baseball, there weren't enough good financial reporters to go around," he added.
The panel discussion was arranged by Commerce Prof. Lynn Hamilton and was attended by a small group of faculty and third- and fourth-year Commerce students.
The talk tied into the course material of Hamilton's advanced managerial communication class, fourth-year Commerce student Jasmin Allen said.
"We talk about media relations on a daily basis," Allen said.
Several panelists advised the Commerce students how their future company can receive a positive portrayal in the media.
"When you're caught off-guard, that's when you make off-the-wall comments that show up in the paper tomorrow," Robertson said. "It's 'gotcha' journalism"
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