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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday announced a crackdown on alleged stock promotion schemes in which writers were secretly paid to post hundreds of bullish articles about public companies on financial websites.
Twenty-seven individuals and entities, including a Hollywood actress, were charged with misleading investors into believing they were reading "independent, unbiased analyses" on websites such as Seeking Alpha, Benzinga and Wall Street Cheat Sheet.
The SEC said many writers used pseudonyms such as Equity Options Guru, The Swiss Trader, Trading Maven and Wonderful Wizard to hype stocks.
It said it found more than 450 problem articles, of which more than 250 falsely said the writers were not being paid.
No word on conflicts of interest and misleading information in regard to stock promotion on television news networks.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @04:20PM (5 children)
In other words, mainstream media is junk is should not be consumed by anyone with a brain? ;)
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday April 11 2017, @07:44PM (4 children)
More like "No single source of information is to be trusted by anyone with a brain." And this is why we need to be teaching what is usually called "critical thinking" , ideally at a high school level but at least at an undergraduate level.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 11 2017, @08:28PM (1 child)
Which explains why the republicans are so opposed to high-quality public schools.
JK, that's just serendipity.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @11:20PM
What they sow they will get for I see a man in a open car standing with his hand rigidly in the air while people cheers..
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Tuesday April 11 2017, @11:18PM (1 child)
Critical thinking should start at school year four at least.
I'll agree with your single source point. But sometimes it's all you got. However one might also so if the information connects to other pieces of information, ie makes sense and checks out.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday April 12 2017, @02:28PM
Agreed. If all you have is a single source point, though, that conclusion is to be regarded as somewhat more likely, but not conclusive.
If you are doing this, you have to be very very careful about ensuring that it is not simply confirming your pre-existing biases. Failing to do so is how conspiracy theories develop and expand: New evidence can be easily adjusted to fit into the conspiracy theory, even if each individual piece of evidence doesn't in fact point to the conspiracy in question.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.