Traders Drove Macrovision Coverage

Even the biggest malcontent among us will outrun his demons to express hope on a wedding day, right?

That is why, as we've seen a gazillion times from Time Warner-AOL on to today, the business media are usually at their most gullible when companies announce their intention to spend the rest of their lives together. It goes like this: The companies declare their undying love, hold hands for the camera and lay out their big plans on a platter, and the happy talk from the business media just flows.

Does anyone here have objections? I'll have to forever hold my peace. Plus, the stock is up a quarter point. Who can argue with that?

So what happened on Friday? Macrovision(MVSN Quote) announced that it was buying Gemstar-TV Guide(GMST Quote), and guess what? After a brief lull, articles that ran on the hitch were by and large filled with the mistrust that actually informs investors. This is good, because the history of these deals, after all, is not great. So what went so terribly right Friday?

As The Business Press Maven sees it, it had to do with timing and the fact that the business media are always too influenced by the initial reaction of traders. In the midst of this ornery stock market, as soon as traders started beating up both companies, the articles that flowed told an appropriately skeptical story.