What Does Aston Kutcher Have To Do With Wall Street?

I thought you would never ask:) Last week......something VERY IMPORTANT in journalism happened......and not many people noticed. For those of you that watch "Larry King Live"......you may know that Ashton Kutcher was in a friendly "competition" with CNN and Larry King to see who would be the first to get to 1,000,000 viewers on their "Twitter" account: Ashton Kutcher.....or CNBC. Kutcher won. And Kutcher is no dummy.......I think he understands the importance of his "victory" over Larry King.

Here is a video clip of Larry King interviewing Kutcher this past weekend. If you go to 4:00 into the clip, you will come to the most important statement in that clip where Kutcher says: "I thought it to be quite significant that we now live in an age for media, that a single voice can have as much power and relevance on the web as an entire media network" (like CNN).

So...........what does Kutcher and Twitter have to do with the stock market anyway? Journalism is changing.........QUICKLY.......right before our eyes. And that applies to financial journalism as well...........even if you have to stretch the meaning of journalism to include CNBC........which really ISN'T journalism (it's allowing yourself to be used by Wall Street and cheerleading).

What CNBC doesn't apparently realize..........is what many of the Republicans also didn't realize during the last presidential election: PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT YOU SAY.......ESPECIALLY ON TV. Cramer........STILL doesn't get it. He was made an absolute ass out of by Jon Stewart......but Stewart used CRAMER's OWN WORDS and video clips to do it. Cramer and CNBC are trying to "restate history" when in fact history is VERY CLEAR........and is viewed by many on Youtube and elsewhere: Cramer was wrong MANY.....MANY....times, and he is NO "expert." And CNBC is NOT a network to get "actionable financial news" from. PERIOD.

And the effect on media is going to be ASTOUNDING as we move forward in time in coming months and years. As we go forward.........."media"......won't be about the "strength" or "power" of major networks. Media will become more "efficient"......and it will be about the following:

1) If you're "entertainment".........then you'll have to be funny and entertaining.

2) If you're "educational"........then you'll have to provide a good educational experience.

3) If you're "financial" in nature.........THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO EITHER BE CORRECT OR HAVE THE PEOPLE ON AIR WHO ARE CORRECT. And THAT......is where CNBC is getting beat up. Because they HAVEN'T been right............and in fact.......they have belittled the analysts who were bearish early on (and the bearish analysts were right).........and the Cramer's and Kudlow's and Neil's of the world WERE WRONG.

I imagine financial media will become much more "dispersed" (smaller).........and like Ashton Kutcher......word will spread by "word of mouth" (or word of email:) in many cases, and by Internet advertising. Those financial sites that provide good......actionable content or add value from an educational experience........will prosper. Those.....like CNBC, will not. Bandwidths and speed over the internet will allow more and more SMALL OPERATIONS to start up. You'll have to be GOOD.......ACCURATE........TRUSTWORTHY...........and not "beholden" to Wall Street.

The "brave new world" will also not be as kind to the likes of Goldman Sachs as well. You can already see that Goldman is trying to play the part of "playground bully" and trying to quiet the likes of GoldmanSachs666.com. What they (Goldman) doesn't know......is that there are sites lining up to either help sites like GoldmanSachs666 or take their place. Information WILL get out. People like Henry Blodgett can be silenced with a little payola........but there are actually people with ethics in some of the Wall Street firms.........just not many of them........and they don't stay around.

The last thing in the world that Goldman or any other hedge fund or investment bank wants.....is an efficient market where truth gets out. Abby Joseph is a big help to the trading floor at Goldman. A big player like Goldman or any other large hedge fund, can be helped by a little "misdirection" (as they call it in football). In the fall of 2007 she was bullish as all get out.......as Goldman was shorting the banks and housing industry. She is doing the same thing now with her call of S&P 900.