The communication new developments we have all over us nowadays such as the internet, financial newspapers, and special interest tv channels centered on investing like CNBC are a high speed pipeline of nonsensical chatter. Each one of these sources of information mean that there's no shortage of media people attempting to respond to our questions with regards to the stock market and specific stocks. You need to remember that the news media are constantly competing to make it through against other stuff you possibly can watch. If they don't always sound like they know precisely what is going on then you won't watch their reports. If you do not tune into their show then their ratings decrease. If their ratings drop they get fired and their show gets cancelled.
This means that financial journalists are in the business of discovering great stories and sounding like authorities no matter what. The stock market is an excellent place for them to find out news 'scoops' to feed to the public. They do not really verify their facts very well and occasionally not at all. This means that if a certain insider desires to feed you a line of bull manure then all they need to do is maintain good connections with financial journalists, sponsor an investment show, or outright buy an investing TV channel such as Jack Welch the CEO of GE did when he set up CNBC. What a great way for inside executives to control the flow of news information to the public then to actually own one of the only financial news channels...but not so great for you!
These journalists also kick up the fire by getting so-called 'experts' to discuss every side of some subject that real experts would not think about as important. This simply makes it all the more complicated for the public to understand what's essential when purchasing or selling a stock. Shows on CNBC like 'Closing Bell', 'Kudlow and Company', and 'Mad Money' do nothing at all but confuse and misdirect the focus of most individual investors in the public. Even worse, this means that the financial news media enables overpriced stocks to be suggested through analysts in the inside web that inside executives are throwing on the public simply because they're trying to emerge. This actually occurred at the top of the bull market in 1999. For an excellent historical description of what took place, read Maggie Mahar's book entitled "Bull."
Here is the useful tip I would like you to consider: when you are a beginner investor, it is important that you DO NOT Watch THE Financial News OR READ THE Financial NEWSPAPERS! Do not allow the stock market industry direct you around by the nose-like livestock to the slaughter house. Don't pay attention to what they want you to listen to. You must concentrate on learning what is essential in the stock market and the mass media will just confuse you until you've educated yourself. Recommended reading: 1. Mahar, M. Bull! A History of the Boom, 1929-1999 (New York, HarperBusiness , 2003) 2. Shiller, R., Irrational Exhuberance, (New York, Broadway Books, 2000)