Comments on: Money Saving Expert’s Martin Lewis on ethical concerns with financial reporting http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/2009/03/17/money-saving-experts-martin-lewis-on-ethical-concerns-with-financial-reporting/ Online journalism news Thu, 24 May 2012 14:01:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: clive thomas http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/2009/03/17/money-saving-experts-martin-lewis-on-ethical-concerns-with-financial-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-11324 clive thomas Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:40:16 +0000 http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/?p=9008#comment-11324 Does anyone else think Martin Lewis celebrity financial journalist models himself on CNBC's Jim Cramer? Both wear a signature shirt. Lewis always wears a stripped shirt, Cramer always rolls up his sleeves. Both use mad gimmicks and both have recommended stocks to the public the week before they crashed (Icelandic savings accounts for Lewis, Bear Stearns stock for Cramer). The only problem Lewis has with bringing down a bank is once bust he can't collect his commission. I don't agree he's a journalist, he earns more from commission than he does from editorial fees so that makes him a snake oil saleman and his advice isn't sound. He's done nothing to stop credit card debt reaching £53 billion in the UK, in fact he's fuelled it because the more credit cards he can persuade people to take out, the more money he makes. As to why he's never asked to answer for the dire state of personal finances in the UK given he's been the the wall to wall face of personal financial journalism for the past five years I do not know. Does anyone else think Martin Lewis celebrity financial journalist models himself on CNBC’s Jim Cramer? Both wear a signature shirt. Lewis always wears a stripped shirt, Cramer always rolls up his sleeves. Both use mad gimmicks and both have recommended stocks to the public the week before they crashed (Icelandic savings accounts for Lewis, Bear Stearns stock for Cramer). The only problem Lewis has with bringing down a bank is once bust he can’t collect his commission. I don’t agree he’s a journalist, he earns more from commission than he does from editorial fees so that makes him a snake oil saleman and his advice isn’t sound. He’s done nothing to stop credit card debt reaching £53 billion in the UK, in fact he’s fuelled it because the more credit cards he can persuade people to take out, the more money he makes. As to why he’s never asked to answer for the dire state of personal finances in the UK given he’s been the the wall to wall face of personal financial journalism for the past five years I do not know.

]]> By: Viper 1 http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/2009/03/17/money-saving-experts-martin-lewis-on-ethical-concerns-with-financial-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-11310 Viper 1 Thu, 19 Mar 2009 09:23:15 +0000 http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/?p=9008#comment-11310 For some industry insight into Martin Lewis and declared interests, this blog is definitely worth a read... http://www.insiders-view.co.uk/modest-martin-lewis-a-reader-rants For some industry insight into Martin Lewis and declared interests, this blog is definitely worth a read…
http://www.insiders-view.co.uk/modest-martin-lewis-a-reader-rants

]]> By: Bob http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/2009/03/17/money-saving-experts-martin-lewis-on-ethical-concerns-with-financial-reporting/comment-page-1/#comment-11303 Bob Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:31:34 +0000 http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/?p=9008#comment-11303 Unbelievable. Thanks journalism.co.uk. Reading this I can now die in peace with the knowledge that journalism is officially dead. Martin Lewis is a former PR who has transformed himself into one of the country's leading credit card salemen having devised a technique he describes as "journalistic research" to mask the activities of a multi-million pound financial services website. But because he's a face on TV (a sleb) no one - wake up journalists - has thought to question this? What the xxcx is "journalistic research"? other than PR, the very thing that proper journalists are supposed to see through. The twist is that much of Lewis's advice is sound. Read the tips, apply for the credit card: bingo. Everyone = happy. But the practice has spawned a genre of copycats with every financial services website now employing "journalists" to publish "biased" (to quote Lewis) reports on the best products. Check out the "reporters" on Moneysupermarket.com - a stock market listed financial services company. Or consumerchoices.co.uk, and so on. This is not journalism. This is PR. And to read such reverential tosh on a journalism website is revealing to say the least. Best bit: "He would find ‘breaking a bank down difficult to live with,’ he said." Oh: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLIe5X9DBew For a more insightful (journalism) view of the Lewis empire you may want to check out... http://www.insiders-view.co.uk/modest-martin-lewis-a-reader-rants Unbelievable. Thanks journalism.co.uk. Reading this I can now die in peace with the knowledge that journalism is officially dead.

Martin Lewis is a former PR who has transformed himself into one of the country’s leading credit card salemen having devised a technique he describes as “journalistic research” to mask the activities of a multi-million pound financial services website.

But because he’s a face on TV (a sleb) no one – wake up journalists – has thought to question this? What the xxcx is “journalistic research”? other than PR, the very thing that proper journalists are supposed to see through.

The twist is that much of Lewis’s advice is sound. Read the tips, apply for the credit card: bingo. Everyone = happy.

But the practice has spawned a genre of copycats with every financial services website now employing “journalists” to publish “biased” (to quote Lewis) reports on the best products. Check out the “reporters” on Moneysupermarket.com – a stock market listed financial services company. Or consumerchoices.co.uk, and so on.

This is not journalism. This is PR. And to read such reverential tosh on a journalism website is revealing to say the least.

Best bit:

“He would find ‘breaking a bank down difficult to live with,’ he said.”

Oh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLIe5X9DBew

For a more insightful (journalism) view of the Lewis empire you may want to check out…

http://www.insiders-view.co.uk/modest-martin-lewis-a-reader-rants

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