Most recently, disgruntled Bear Stearns Cos. CEO Alan Schwartz blamed his investment firm's collapse on the media (failing, of course, to mention former CEO James Cayne's bridge-playing absences or pot-smoking breaks). Before him, Toll Brothers Inc. CEO Robert Toll and Countrywide Home Loans Inc.'s chief Angelo R. Mozilo blamed the media for their respective company's plummeting share prices (and not mentioning, of course, that maybe overbuilding and bad mortgage lending may have had something to do with it.)
It seems blaming the media is the new American tradition. Heck, even Bill Buckner blamed the media Tuesday for two decades worth of death threats from rabid Red Sox fans, who he exonerated. (Buckner, if you don't remember, was the Red Sox first baseman who let a routine ground ball go through his legs in the 1986 World Series game six that could've sealed victory against the New York Mets, who came back and went on to become champions.)
But, alas, we've found a case where the media might be to blame for once. Consider the following inaccurate April 8 Reuters headline: "The First Marblehead Corp. Files For Bankruptcy."
The two-line story goes on to say that First Marblehead filed for bankruptcy "after its shares plunge [sic] low," and attributed the falling share price to the Education Resources Institute Inc.'s bankruptcy filing on Monday (which was real).
First Marblehead is the exclusive loan processing agent to Education Resources, which is known as TERI, so it's not unthinkable that the company could be affected by TERI's Chapter 11 filing. But such an immediate bankruptcy from a company the size of First Marblehead is unlikely.
First Marblehead spokeswoman Janice D. Walker confirmed on Wednesday that the company had not filed for bankruptcy protection and does not intend to. Walker said she had seen the report, but "it is absolutely not true." Reuters' director of corporate communications, Alexandra Honeysett, acknowledged the error but could not explain it. Honeysett referred comment to Reuters reporter Jonathan Stempel, who could not be reached for comment. - John Blakeley
It's all the media's fault. Remember Spiro Agnew's description of the press as the "nattering nabobs of negativism?" Well, Wall Street is now trying to further the former and disgraced vice president's legacy.
