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The communication innovations we’ve around us today just like the internet, financial newspapers, and special interest television channels centered on investing like CNBC are a high speed pipeline of nonsensical chatter. Each one of these sources of information imply that there is absolutely no shortage of media people attempting to answer our questions concerning the stock market and specific stocks. You will need to remember that the news media are constantly competing to survive against other things you can watch. If
festival don’t always appear to be they know what is going on then you won’t watch their presentations. Unless you tune into their show then their ratings decrease. If their ratings decrease they get fired and their show gets cancelled.

This means that financial journalists are in the business of finding great stories and sounding like authorities whatever. The stock market is a fantastic place for them to find out news ‘scoops’ to feed to the general public. They don’t really really check their facts perfectly and sometimes never. Which means that if some insider really wants to feed you a line of bull manure then all they must do is maintain good connections with financial journalists, sponsor an investment show, or outright buy an investing TV channel like Jack Welch the CEO of GE did when he create CNBC. What a smart way for inside executives to control the flow of news information to the general public then to actually own among the only financial news channels…however, not so great for you!

These journalists also kick up the fire by bringing in so-called ‘experts’ to speak about each side of some topic that real experts would not consider important.

This just makes it all the more confusing for the public to comprehend what is important when buying or selling a stock. Shows on CNBC like ‘Closing Bell’, ‘Kudlow & Company’, and ‘Mad Money’ do nothing but confuse and misdirect the eye of all individual investors in the public. Even worse this means that the financial news media allows overpriced stocks to be recommended through analysts in the inside web that inside executives are dumping on the general public because they are looking to get out. This actually happened near the top of the bull market in 1999. For an excellent historical description of what happened read Maggie Mahar’s book entitled "Bull."

The famous Yale University Economist, Prof. Bob Shiller, Ph.D. is specially harsh on the media in his book "Irrational Exuberance." Dr. Shiller is one the economists that Alan Greenspan respects most and where he got the word "Irrational Exuberance." He portrays the media as sound-bite-driven where superficial opinions are preferred over in-depth analyses. I agree whole heartedly with him and contend that it’s also done just because the industry would rather have the retail investor confused and emotionally pliable to make you buy and sell if they want with total disregard for the best interests!

Individuals who had invested their life savings in the currency markets were cheated in the stock market as the financial news media and analysts were hyping up what a great buy stocks were at the very top of the market in 1999 and 2000. As well inside corporate executives were selling out everything they had. What is amazing is our federal government by means of the Security Exchange Commission never did a thing about it. There was never a blanket case taken or an outcry that almost all of the inside executives had somehow magically sold-out of the market six months before the market crashed.

This is actually the valuable tip I want one to consider: if you are a beginner investor it is important you don’t WATCH THE FINANCIAL NEWS OR BROWSE THE FINANCIAL NEWSPAPERS! Don’t let the stock market industry lead you around by the nose like livestock to the slaughter house. Don’t listen to what they want you to listen to. You should concentrate on learning the most important thing in the currency markets and the mass media is only going to confuse you until you have educated yourself.

Recommended reading:

1. Mahar, M. Bull! A History of the Boom, 1929-1999 (NY, HarperBusiness , 2003)

2. Shiller, R., Irrational Exhuberance, (New York, Broadway Books, 2000)