WSJ Chooses Spin Over Precision

This isn't the biggest deal in the world, but as language obsessives, we found it at least mildly interesting.

Late yesterday, after the close of trading, we received one of the Wall Street Journal's periodic Market Alerts. Under the headline "Dow Industrials Surge 330 Points as Oil Drops, Fed Stands Pat," we saw this (emphasis added in bold):

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 330 points as oil prices continued to fall and the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. Gains were widespread, with 20 of the average's 30 components advancing on the day.

Like many terms of art, "widespread" is in the eye of the beholder, and yesterday's move higher was clearly substantial. But 20 of 30 Dow stocks moving higher on a day when the index jumped 330 points, doesn't seem especially widespread to us. It just doesn't.

This may seem like quibbling, and to an extent...it is. But language matters, and media characterizations of market developments have consequences for the way rank-and-file investors understand what's happening around them. For what it's worth, we tend to favor precision and nuance over spin and superlatives.

Comments

[Strangelove:]

I'm afraid this is a subtle glimpse into the future for the WSJ. It'd just be tacky to rename it Fox News Journal, wouldn't it?

Thanks for the watchful eye- let's just all try and keep ours open. If there's one thing which Rupert Murdoch knows well, it's the power of perception. While we may think we can afford to allow our news media outlets compromise their integrity in the service of an elitist kajillionaire's socio-political agenda; our financial media absolutely cannot follow the same path. The result would be disastrous.

2008 Aug 06 08:35 PM

[kkin365:]

While I am not a Paul Gigot fan, I disagree with the poster's nitpicking. Twenty out of 30 is widespread for me -- the word captures the sentiment perfectly. When the market moves against you, don't blame the messenger.

2008 Aug 07 09:33 AM

[previse:]

I think you could say with equal accuracy "Gains were selective, with only 20 of the average's 30 components advancing on the day." Two thirds advancing on a 330 point day might not be selective but it's not widespread either.

2008 Aug 07 09:50 AM

[johnhaskell:]

It would have been more appropriate to say, "In a broad vote of confidence in President Bush's Iraq policy, stocks moved dramatically higher, with gains across the Dow Industrials. Thank God George Bush is our President."

2008 Aug 07 10:27 AM

[Sr. Pessimist:]

Since I disproportionately share the US Dollar with that idiot Rupert Murdoch, and he has more bucks than me, I am being adversely affected by him when he makes misleading remarks to an audience of investors in the periodical he ruined. If I didn't carry US Dollars in my wallet, I wouldn't care as much. But since I'm trapped like an animal in the same country and economy as Rupert Murdoch and other worthless people like him, and have always been, I'm held hostage to a weaker currency that buys me less in exchange for true value- my labor services- but keeps him rich. God he screwed the WSJ. He shouldn't be allowed to offer products and services for exchange under the US Dollar. He should be boycotted from currency. His news products and services are inferior. The problem is that the reality would hold me boycotted from the currency. I wasn't born an elitist, so I'm destined for a life of toil and struggle against my will. Ahh, who cares. I've already disowned the Dollar. Life is worthless because I have to live it in the dirty US empire with scum like Rupert Murdoch. And who's blaming him? If I was given the life of splendor he was given, I'd probably sink just as low to maintain and build my fortune. I'm human, too. Just a human without nearly as much damn luck. To succeed in this shit country, it seems like all you need is luck, and nothing else counts.

2008 Aug 07 01:16 PM

[carey_jim:]

As long as most Americans believe "Money is not everything, but it's way ahead of whatever is in second place" we'll continue to have a plutocracy in America.

While we Americans value money over justice, freedom and equality we can't complain about Murdoch, we can only try to emulate him.

2008 Aug 07 03:16 PM

[Joyful Alte...:]

I dunno, Brian. The Simpsons show has been pretty good over the years.

But Jim, I'm not about to try to emulate Murdoch on anything other than cartoons. I want to keep going to church Sundays without crawling under the pew in shame.

2008 Aug 07 05:20 PM