There is News and there is Advertising

There is a line between real news and advertising. Regretfully some of the websites reporting "news" can't make that distinction. I realize that advertising is necessary to provide the money to support these free news services; nevertheless these services, such as MarketWatch, must clearly distinguish legitimate news from advertising dressed-up as news.

When companies such as MarketWatch fail to make this distinction, it cheapens their brand. Not only that, but companies that issue "false" news leave me with the impression that they are not all that honest to begin with. I have, of course, emailed MarketWatch several times, but I have not yet received a response beyond the automated "thank-you".

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PRESS RELEASE
Stock Preacher Issues Technical Trade Alerts on: BAC, BP, BRK.A, C, COP

Last update: 7:00 a.m. EST Feb. 25, 2009
VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y., Feb 25, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- StockPreacher.com announces the availability of Trade Alerts on stocks making news today.

Investors can view all of the daily updates for free by visiting: http://StockPreacher.com

Today's Trade Alerts include: Bank of America Corporation (BAC:bank of america corporation com), BP plc (BP:BP p.l.c.), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A:Berkshire Hathaway Inc), Citigroup, Inc. (C:Citigroup Inc), ConocoPhillips (COP:ConocoPhillips)

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The above, as can clearly be seen, provides nothing substantive in the way of genuine news and is simply an advertisement dressed up as a press release. In contrast, Zacks, when it issues a news blurb, actually provides a short paragraph describing why the company is being featured. This is real news. Reputable news agencies should reject disingenuous "news" such as that issued by the "Stock Preacher". It hurts us all.