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The New Paradigm of Financial Media

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What would we do without Zero Hedge?  Does anyone else notice the rapid deterioration of financial news media, especially in the US?  OK, we are not naive, there are biases in the media, traders from big ibanks talking up their positions, and trading is all about information arbitrage.  But financial news used to be really serious.  Traders could turn on a TV to see what the markets were doing.  Bloomberg being the last financial channel broadcast on TV to avoid the "CNBC Phenomenon" or more specifically the "Cramer Phenomenon."  But now, even Bloomberg TV has become a financial version of The View, with the occasional serious guest, and the occasional well researched article.

This is not meant to be a praise-all for ZH, but seriously, what other site has a continual flow of objective analysis, and breaking news that's not visible elsewhere on the net?  Ok, traders don't really need news they just need data, so in today's electronic market financial journalism may be less valuable for traders.  But that doesn't mean the quality of financial journalism should be allowed to deteriorate to an entertainment level.  Trading is often compared to gambling, Wall St. being the 'big casino' - but most involved take it very seriously, and the markets can make or break families, companies, and countries.  In most Vegas casinos, you will find all sorts of cheap tricks to overwhelm your visual cortex such as scantily clad ladies, loud bells and whistles, lots of flashing lights, free drinks and food spiked with salt and sugar, and well dressed managers waiting to be so polite and charming should they see you drop a load.  See any similarities?  

There is another interesting parallel with ZH, it was founded in 2009, before Wikileaks became popular, and before the NSA scandal.  Starting with Wikileaks exposing Swiss banking activities, and other significant financial infos, traders and investors have started changing the way they obtain and process information on the internets.  This was more solidified with the NSA scandal, although much infos released by Snowden are not of a financial nature.  Many of the policies now being implemented by a global community of concerned internet users were running on ZH before all of this happened.  Again, not an all-praise for ZH, but what value do many mainstream financial networks have, with all their biases, agreements with partners, and guests from large houses talking up their positions.  It was a shocking for many to learn that all it takes to get on CNBC is $2,500 (probably policy changed now, but it used to be like this).  Stock traders from the late 90's remember the 'Power Lunch Bump' where it was almost guaranteed that the guest, whoever he was or whatever he said, was good for at least a few points of their stock to jump while talking.  A new group of retail traders flush with cash from the 90's boom were anxious to get in on the action but didn't know anything other than to turn on the TV and watch CNBC.  Professional traders took it with a grain of salt, but it sure was a great way to pay for lunch.  What a different world we live in.

So what's the new financial media all about?  It's outlined well in the ZH Manifesto:

our mission:

  • to widen the scope of financial, economic and political information available to the professional investing public.
  • to skeptically examine and, where necessary, attack the flaccid institution that financial journalism has become.
  • to liberate oppressed knowledge.
  • to provide analysis uninhibited by political constraint.
  • to facilitate information's unending quest for freedom.

our method: pseudonymous speech...

anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. it thus exemplifies the purpose behind the bill of rights, and of the first amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation-- and their ideas from suppression-- at the hand of an intolerant society.

   ...responsibly used.

the right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. but political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse.

 

- mcintyre v. ohio elections commission 514 u.s. 334 (1995) justice stevens writing for the majority

What ZH represents most importantly, an anonymous network of financial professionals which is extremely diverse, some are from the mainstream, some from the fringes.  It's a bastion of internet freedom, representing free speech as it was intended.  Of course that's just the platform, it doesn't guarantee high quality of information, but somehow, it is the only source where information is almost all quality.  

Aside from retail investors, what's to keep traditional financial media alive at all?  In the case of something like Bloomberg, their public media is almost irrelevant.  The BB team is supporting their clients for the terminal, and so having their own network of analysts, journalists, and other types of agents makes sense to support data provided through the terminal.  But what about others?

There are other exceptions such as Reuters, not a unique financial media, but they are backed by the trading element of their business.  But unless you are a customer of Reuters, such as the new product giving their clients a nanosecond edge "Ultra Low Latency Data" their reporting on general news and especially financial events is suspect.  

Or maybe, the only thing keeping such mainstream institutions alive, are a secret group of corporate clients, that can use such outlets for their own information campaign purposes.  In any event, as the markets evolve, and the internet evolves, the new paradigm in financial media is the "Bitcoin" model, not the USD model:

“The advantage for Chinese users to use Bitcoin is freedom, people can do something without any official authority,” said Patrick Lin, system administrator of Erights.net and owner of about 1,500 Bitcoins. Lin said he’s sticking to the currency itself, rather than IPOs, in part because of weak regulation. “The Bitcoin world is just like the Wild West -- no law, but opportunity and risk,” he said.

ZH is a public site, but represents the gateway into the 'dark' internet, at least as it's concerning financial media.  Of course, there wasn't technology 50 years ago to support such a network, so it was easy for certain powerful media companies to dominate the sphere.  Now, anyone with a computer and internet access, can learn as much about the markets as you can at Wharton (if they learn anything there is questionable).  With that knowledge, that person can open a blog, and become their own independent financial media agent.  The standing argument that bloggers are unprofessional because they don't have journalistic credentials, has been disproved in the last years, since it was sites like ZH that broke the flash trading scandal, and Wikileaks, that broke the story about Julius Baer.   

The new paradigm of financial media is a decentralized, global network of well informed uber-agents, who proliferate their information privately through their own information portals, and through public networks, such as Zero Hedge (currently, ZH the only one).

 

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Tue, 12/24/2013 - 04:57 | 4272924 Dr. Sandi
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It is vital to find a news source whose bias matches one's own.

 

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 10:36 | 4273198 TheFourthStooge-ing
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.

It is vital to find a news source whose bias matches one's own.

That's why I go with theonion.com. It's like The US Citizenism Times of teh intarwebs.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 16:52 | 4271688 Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch's picture

Check out the Centre for Research on Globalization. It's leftist but if you can look past that, the articles are compelling and they use heavy documentation to back up their stores.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 17:25 | 4271755 holgerdanske
Mon, 12/23/2013 - 22:29 | 4272394 Yes_Questions
Yes_Questions's picture

 

 

ZH and Global Research articles under one's belt makes one overeducated by comparison to the vast majority of people, certainly those waddling around the US in the form of educated, middle class, white collar professionals.

 

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 14:23 | 4271280 Trampy
Trampy's picture

The bias is everywhere.

The bias seems worse here at ZH because they don't even have a proofreader much lessand editor... and they NEVER correct their clear errors.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 21:23 | 4272266 globalintelhub
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?? ?????

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 20:19 | 4272126 Satan
Satan's picture

Most of us here can read without moving our lips.

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 05:31 | 4272942 OldPhart
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I can count without using my toes....

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 18:03 | 4271830 Ckierst1
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Don't sweat the small stuff.  If you want to whack something then try public schooling, which is largely responsible for ass-whole language, parsimonious phonics instruction and poor spelling. There are at least a couple of kinds of bias.  I don't really object to bias if it is rationally supportable and informable, which is to say, it will honor truth and specify reality when they aren't the same, and state when they are clearly out to lunch.  I'm informed sufficiently to eventually (hopefully timely!) discern bullshit and make up my own mind.  Be grateful that SOMEBODY gives a shit!  

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 16:41 | 4271669 holgerdanske
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With eloquent writers like you, who need proof readers? :-)

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 15:35 | 4271501 ebworthen
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At least you got "their" right.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 13:59 | 4271174 Laughing Stock
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Is there really anyone out there that can stand listening to that Irish gash, Vonnie Quinn, or is it just me? 

 

 

That said...all praise ZH!

 

allahu akbar

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 13:35 | 4271107 Gimp
Gimp's picture

Media bias is real.

Yesterday -  was really bored - switched on TV - ACCIDENTALLY ended up on MSNBC - they were doing a piece on ObamaCare and how fantastic everything was going. I believed every word. It was a lovefest of guests - hilarious.

Switched over to FOX just before looking for the sports channel - FOX was doing a piece on the Obamacare disaster. I believed every word of it. Another lovefest of guests....

ADVICE -  media channels = garbage  ...don't waste your time.

 

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 23:23 | 4272508 kchrisc
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My favorites were Climategate and NDAA. Not a peep from the propaganda media on both. Alt media pressure even got Obama to admit that NDAA was a bad thing. Not a peep from the propaganda media.

 

"Reality is included in the script."

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 22:17 | 4272370 JuicedGamma
JuicedGamma's picture

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

So as you see the 1% and the 99%.

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 06:14 | 4272959 falak pema
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Good reminder...A Tale of two cities....but what are the two cities that are destined to shape the world in this earthshaking firesale of phony assets based on debt unlimited that will end like ALL those last ones did, as we look back over time ? 

Our world is not only caught up in the conundrum of Capitalism gone sour, like divine rights went sour in those other times, we are also faced with the awesome challenge of a consumerista model which is polluting our world and leaving no PHYSICAL future for our new generations.

This awesome financial fake money machine is showing us to what extent out current paradigm; money, guns and energy; is ALL phukked up beyond what even Charles Dickens or any other literary giant could have imagined.

All we know how to do is sell Gucci bags to the hags of dystopian 0.001 % oligarchy all the while they shag us to foggy bottom of public catastrophe of their mad concoction in complacent 1914 type hubris .

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 16:38 | 4271664 holgerdanske
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Threw my TV out four years ago. One of the best things I have ever done!

Follow ZH and I agree with the main theme, nobody can be trusted.

I have been in gold, and I will continue with that, irrespective.

 

Logic tells me that gold must, has to be the anchor, but currently reality has started to interfere.;-)

It is getting harder, but I am staying the course. I didn't buy gold to get rich, I bought gold because I don't want to be a participant in a crooked system. Guess I have some way still to go. But ultimately, gold will prevail.

My guts tell me this is not going to end nicely. Rather gold in a hole, than a whole lot of ex-dollars in an ex-account or in sinking shares. This can, and I guess will, -turn on a dime.

 

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 11:02 | 4273237 Stuck on Zero
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Throwing away your TV could be considered a subversive act.  You will need to be sent to a re-education camp.

 

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 23:16 | 4272490 TheReplacement
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People can be trusted.  Generally the level of trust warranted is inversely proportionate to the level of profit they stand to make.  Use that, amongst other criteria, and you will be ok most of the time.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 19:14 | 4271982 disabledvet
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is it real?... is it safe? nobody believes television. will they believe this?

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 19:16 | 4271981 Freddie
Freddie's picture

TV and Hollywood are total shit and full on propaganda. I dumped them years ago.  I like ZH but after I heard some people were banned - I think that is not cool.

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 01:33 | 4272752 Clowns on Acid
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Cheers to the 1st Cheesepope !

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 22:56 | 4272439 acetinker
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That banning thing never happened while the servers were in Bulgaria.  I dunno why ZH migrated to Switzerland, but the Swiss have laws on political correctness- thus the bannings.  Truth told, it is pointless to blame an entire religion/ethnic group, anyway.

On media, I have to disagree just a little bit.  One of my favorite movies is The Little Big Man.  Gen'l. Custer sized up Jack Crabbe as "the perfect reverse barometer".  Bad example, I suppose 'cos Custer subsequently got his ass handed to him, but the overall analogy still holds.

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 03:56 | 4272889 Oracle 911
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Crooks are everywhere, in every ethnic or religious group, BUT certain groups have higher percentage due religious laws and inbreeding (meaning incest).

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 04:56 | 4272923 Dr. Sandi
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Damned Mormons and their state of Utah anyway. They will be the end of the financial world as we know it.

Mon, 12/23/2013 - 19:57 | 4272075 Wish Doctor
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 I like ZH but after I heard some people were banned - I think that is not cool.

What you heard is entirely true. 

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 06:38 | 4272967 i-dog
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Indeed. Francis was banned, then came back on for a few days with a new user name and got banned again (and he didn't even mention the cheesepopes under his new name). Bank Guy in Brussels also got the chop.

Now, in the last few days, ZH has deleted a couple of my own posts which detailed the very close relationship between the Jesuits and Ashkenazi Jews.

It fucking sucks that some topics can't even be spoken of on ZH.

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 22:25 | 4295302 acetinker
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I guess I'm kinda stupid, but I really can't recall any discrimination in Bank Guy's posts.  Francis, yeah.  He even created his own dialogue to elude the bots- but ZH isn't run by bots.

Be interesting to see if someone who constantly railed on Zionists (not Jews) would get banned, wouldn't it?

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 07:00 | 4272973 Raging Debate
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My opinion is ZH was more than tolerant for a long time about ethnic commentary which was always negative. Each genetic culture has strenghts and weaknesses.

The venue here is an investing website. The system or processes that are flawed or prone to corruption are what I am here for. Blame the jews or asians or russians or arabs only speaks lightly to correlation, not causation.

So while commentary on an ethniticy has a propensity to run certain systems a certain way can hold a grain of occassional value, the 'final' solution of eugenics is always mass destruction whereas discussion of flaws or loopholes in a system that can be exploited can be fixed gradually. Or at least one can hedge against such a system by understanding it.

After several hundred comments of 'its the jews fault' I would have banned him also, it was not adding value and was a distraction from the main venue. I am open to opinion and debate but if I have guests over my home to discuss a topic and they veer off and act repeatedly offensive I eventuallykick them out. Are you any different? Why is a private website different then a physical location in that regard?

I am grateful to ZH for all they have done and to the commentators that wish to add value to our mutual benefit. My hats off to ZH especially the founding members that set up this business and took risks in a dangerous time and why? I know it was because you actually cared about truth and other people as much as yourself.

Tue, 12/24/2013 - 09:11 | 4272972 falak pema
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I guess that the TDs feel three hundred types of cheeses is more than enuff; you don't want to go beyond that Rubicon of the crazy frogs!

No more cheesepopes or cheesepoop seems to be the unwritten ZH word! 

To come back to the substantial : I like history; it even amazes me my madness for looking in the rear mirror and making comparisons with which women of every age had the same attraction as a Marilyn or Ava Gardner of my teenage fruity juice days (just to keep the blonde brunette war hot and ticking). 

On the subject of Jesuits I found out something that amazed me about how they manipulated french history to serve the interests of the man who iconised what they had fought as a new breed of shamans spreading the modernista counter reformist dogma, spawned after the rift between Pope and Emperor (1527 sack of Rome by Charles V).

The man whom they DETESTED all their lives (Since the sect was created in 1540s by Ignacio Loyolla in Paris's Sorbonne U) was Henry Bourbon; Protestant prince who won the religious war, against their catholic masters. He started a new dynasty and NEEDED respectability when he became victorious kingly figurehead who signed the Peace Edit of Nantes, and said to win back Catholic support : "Paris vaut bien une Messe". He relapsed back into catholicism but allowed the protestants to practice their faith all the while he married another Medici princess as new wify and had Gabrielle as his mistress. (Kings and bunga bunga...).

Anyways; to come back to Idog's complaint : To establish his legitimacy he ordered the Jesuits, now grovelling at his feet as catholic king, to glorify the memory of old Capetian King Saint Louis of whose blood line he was-- like the extinct Valois line he had replaced.

Bourbons would now say:  we be sons of Saint Louis and Jesuit TURNCOATS would say "yes He can, and yes We scam". (Thats why you Amerikans drink Bourbon 'cos you love Gucci bags deep down inside, as puritan spawn).

And they all lived happily ever after, until poor Henry V got stabbed in the back by a proto-tea party scallawag who said "you commie protestant take that, all your catholic posturising is smoke n mirrors; I saw your birth certficate and YOU were born in Spanish Harlem (Navarre). You no be true Frenchman of apostolitic faith, you be Khazarian travestite!. So you get it! "

So the Jesuits were true WS banksters type shills of that age who played the song of whoever was top man in town. 

SAint Louis, as history would prove-- I'm being inverted time line minded in my madness-- was the George W Bush of the Middle ages...he lost every war he ever fought and he left a progeny who incarnated the most arrogant blood line France ever knew. (Hundred year wars).

But DAT, is another story! 

Now I can concentrate on more important things like what we'll drink with oysters and crab this evening.

Happy Bubbly to ALL! 

 

 

Thu, 01/02/2014 - 22:44 | 4295338 acetinker
acetinker's picture

falak,

Oysters and crab, huh?  What part of the globe do you regale us from?  Enquiring minds want to know.

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