Just as "spin" has taken over politics in America, so too has it come to define the long bull market on Wall Street. The booming trade in stocks has produced an insatiable demand for financial intelligence. On television and the Internet, commentators and analysts are not merely reporting the news, they are making news in ways that provide huge windfalls for some investors and crushing losses for others. And they often traffic in rumor, speculation, and misinformation that hit the market at warp speed.
New York Times bestselling author Howard Kurtz turns his skeptical eye on the business-media revolution that has transformed the American economy. He uncovers the backstage pressures at television shows like CNBC's Squawk Box and CNN's Moneyline and at Internet start-ups like TheStreet.com and JagNotes, real-time operations in the very arena where fortunes are made and lost with stunning swiftness.
No one has ever reported from inside the Wall Street media machine or laid bare the bitter feuds, cozy friendships, and whispered leaks that move the markets. In a time of head-spinning volatility, The Fortune Tellers is essential audio listening for all of us who gamble our savings in today's overheated stock market.
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"This was a terrific read for someone who doesn't know about the stock market. Lots of inside scoop about TV financial personalities and a sense of the enormous risks and roller coaster of the stock market "experts" "
— Margot (4 out of 5 stars)
“Kurtz’s indefatigable, gossipy, punchily written examination of Wall Street and the press…is assiduously reported, wide-ranging, [and] full of insider stories.”
— New York Times“An impressive job of penetrating the rumors, hidden alliances, and cutthroat competition that drive financial news.”
— Business Week“A must-read account of the way stock prices are manipulated by information-hungry media outlets and no-account market analysts.”
— San Francisco Chronicle“While Kurtz concludes with the predictable observation that Wall Street is a crazy, greedy, morally ambiguous place, his first-rate analysis of the interplay between the media and American financial institutions more than justifies the point.”
— Publishers Weekly" The story of media covering the financial industry. It tells all about rich and egotistical people. It's all corrupt and inbred. So what else is new? Yawn. "
— Frederick, 8/30/2010" Illuminating narrative about the birth of financial journalism on the web and on TV networks such as CNBC. Dragged a bit in the middle, but very informative. "
— Alissa, 6/30/2009" This was a terrific read for someone who doesn't know about the stock market. Lots of inside scoop about TV financial personalities and a sense of the enormous risks and roller coaster of the stock market "experts" "
— Margot, 8/21/2008" Illuminating narrative about the birth of financial journalism on the web and on TV networks such as CNBC. Dragged a bit in the middle, but very informative. "
— Alissa, 1/9/2008" The book to read on how the subject. The title sums it all up. <br/> <br/>"The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media and Manipulation" "
— Dave, 4/7/2007
Howard Kurtz has worked as a media reporter for the Washington Post while also writing a weekly column for the newspaper and a daily blog for its website. His work has also appeared in Vanity Fair, Newsweek, New York, and other national magazines. He is the host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, the longest running media criticism show on television, and is the Washington bureau chief for the Daily Beast. He has written multiple books, including Hot Air: All Talk All the Time, named by Business Week as one of the ten best business books of the year, and Media Circus: The Trouble with America’s Newspapers,chosen as the best recent book about the news media by American Journalism Review. He lives with his family in Chevy Chase, Maryland.