Coverage of Lehman-KDB Deal Lacks Sources

Some count sheep to fall asleep, but The Business Press Maven counts sources. Unfortunately, this means I too often don't have much to count.

Take the news that broke this weekend of apparent renewed interest by the Korea Development Bank to buy a big chunk of Lehman Brothers(LEH Quote). And the news -- for lack of a better word -- about whom Lehman Brothers might turn to if interest from the Korea Development Bank snaps off or fizzles.

The story igniting this latest round of talk appeared over the holiday weekend in London's Telegraph: "Korean Development bank in talks to buy Lehman stake."

When The Business Press Maven performs his vaunted Source Analysis on the article, here is what we come up with:

As a source on the Korean Development/Lehman Brothers negotiations, the article uses KDB Chief Executive Min Euoo-sung. He hardly says a deal is a forgone conclusion, noting how far apart the two sides are on price, the only thing that matters.

Despite this good source from the KDB side, a big limitation to the article is that no one from Lehman Brothers -- named or unnamed -- gives the savvy investor s sense of where Lehman thinks things stand. The article really can't be seen as predictive in any reliable way without Lehman's side of the story -- especially with the difference in price.

Interestingly enough, the first reference we see to what Lehman wants is unattributed and vague, and though it makes intuitive sense, it is written generally enough to lead you to believe that the journalist might have garnered it from Min's take on Lehman instead of the more appropriate and useful angle of Lehman's take on Lehman.