Some Stories Make Money, Others Fill Space

Do you wonder why the business media so often come across as malignant little things with little to say and a lot of space to say it in?

Well, your dependable Business Press Maven can boil it down to two major reasons:

1.) Sometimes it's because news breaks quickly and/or overnight and the business media feel obligated to say something -- anything -- quickly. Today's case study: the wee-hour coverage this morning of Ingersoll Rand's(IR Quote) takeover of Trane(TT Quote).

With Financial News, Read Between the Lines Dec. 17

2.) Other times, it's simply because the business journalist has a pet theory to peddle and does not mention essential facts that stand in the way. Today's example: this weekend's article about how small retailers have inventory-ordering advantages over the big chains.

Let's start with that $10 billion climate-control acquisition. It was announced at 12:15 this morning (Eastern Standard Time) in a press release with four bullet points and some ready-made quotes.

As time was the issue here and most experienced members of the business media were in alcohol-induced slumbers, we essentially got two types of articles about the merger between 12:15 a.m. and shortly before the stock market opened.

Suffice it to say, an investor is probably better served ignoring it all. In fact, in these circumstances, The Business Press Maven strongly believes that an investor is simply better off reading only the press release. Why?