Last week’s blog on how badly the mainstream press tends to cover hedge funds drew some intense commentary – both criticism and praise. One exchange completely illustrates for me what’s wrong with that the press that covers the hedge fund industry for at least one national financial daily newspaper.
After being on vacation for a couple days in the Cape of Cod – my family’s home away from home, the land of beaches, good chowda, not-so-good salt water taffy and of course thousands upon thousands of Red Sox fans — I came back to an inbox full of messages. One was a request from a reporter at a newspaper you’ve heard of to “remove me from your list – I don’t want to read your stuff.” My response was simple and elegant: “Consider it done and sorry to see you go!”
That wasn’t the end of it, though. My email set off an exchange between me and the reporter. It was polite. It finally ended with him saying that while I was entitled to my own opinion, he felt no need to read my work. Translation: Don’t bother telling me about mistakes I’ve made. I have nothing to learn from the likes of you.
And that, my friends, is the problem. That may sound egotistical, but the fact is that he should be be reading what I and others write to make sure that he and his colleagues are getting it right! Sure, I’ve gotten things wrong. Everyone makes mistakes. But to make the same ones over and over again? Well, that’s unacceptable, especially when people don’t want to read about their errors. That just tells me they’re lazy.
Well no more am I going to allow this. I am working on a solution to this problem – not lazy reporters but reporters getting hedge fund stories wrong. Journalists need ombudsmen, and maybe that should be my role. I like making sure people stay at the top of their games. I haven’t completely figured it out yet, but will by the end of September. Stay tuned.
With that I say have a good Labor Day Weekend. Enjoy these last bits of summer. And don’t forget about HedgeAnswers – check it out at www.hedgeanswers.com. Our Chicago event is on the 8th of September and Philadelphia is on September 16th!