Lazard's Ridiculous Target Call Gets a Pass

Can you tell how battered The Business Press Maven is from the tone of his voice? The morass of sadness reflected so clearly in his eyes? Oh yeah, this isn't a video. (I'm telling you, you put a print dweeb in front of a camera and it shifts his perspective slightly.)

Anyhow, I'm battered and sad. Why?

Marek Laments the Media

Target(TGT Quote) was downgraded by a Wall Street firm, which the business media reported straight, missing an easy opportunity to explain to readers just how broken, self-serving and downright surreal Wall Street ratings can be. That of course confirms how willing the business media is to play along without pointing it out, needlessly confusing you, the savvy investor.

Take this Associated Press story that appeared on CNNMoney.com. The headline used the words "Target" and "casualty" in the same sentence, so I naturally assumed the worst: Get a body bag! Not only that, but Target, a quality company no matter the current environment, was portrayed as merely the "first casualty" of the holiday season. Make that body bags, plural!

It turns out, of course, that we won't even need a body bag for Target, but let's not let reason stand in our way just yet; first let's go over the alarmist headline -- Target "first casualty of the holiday season" -- and the straight subheadline: "Lazard analyst downgrades the discount retailer on weak holiday sales."