In The Year Of Fake News, Finance Cannot Be Entertainment

Let’s call 2016 the year of “fake news“, when scandalous, entertaining algorithm-based headlines helped usher in one of the biggest political upsets of all time in the US Presidential election.  Coverage was driven by candidates’ sensationalized commentary, but missed capturing the real temperature across half of America.  As The New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg wrote, “the news media by and large missed what was happening all around it, and it was the story of a lifetime.”  Media became somewhat of a manipulation game that discouraged us from understanding the crux of the real news.  

Online, aggregated viewpoints bombarded us on a personalized internet and rarely did we encounter a scenario that we have to disagree with.  People were sick of the establishment, and forced themselves to be heard. 

Investment investigator Gordon Dee Smith forecasted on Real Vision TV how the hyper-connectivity communication revolution can mean major consequences for the world of politics and business. Disparate rebels with an agenda can quickly form tribal affinity groups and emerge without warning, potentially taking down companies and governments, changing policy, shaping or even destroying careers, or bankrupting a company.  We’ve witnessed it firsthand.

But this general populist backlash that we’re seeing now isn’t new. It was born out of the 2008 financial crisis.  Many are still coming out of that debt burden and harbor a sense of deep resentment and suspicion.  Wall Street knew what was taking place then, but like today, the media didn’t paint a full picture for everyone.  As a result people lost their homes, their jobs and their life savings. 

Nearly 10 years later, even after such a catastrophe and with more platforms for information delivery, finance is still treated like a backroom club or entertainment.  The focus remains on headlines and groupthink when it should stand for so much more than that. 

If we’ve learned anything from this year’s election or the 2008 financial crisis, it’s that non-conformist views need to be carefully considered.  Short-term sensationalized headlines shouldn’t overlook long-term implications.  The way the world views, consumes and engages with media, should be free from agenda so people can be armed with the very best information, particularly when it comes to financial decisions.

Here’s the opportunity to correct the past.  Let’s have a look at what’s coming up: over the last 100 years, every president-elect that’s succeeded a two-term US president has been met with a recession. Brexit has potential long-term serious ramifications that go beyond just the fall of the Pound.  Next week is the Italian Referendum.  We don’t know exactly what these events will mean financially, but people deserve to fully understand the potential implications.  Money decisions should not be left up to those trying to satisfy an advertising or editorial agenda. 

Especially in the year of fake news, we need to have all the information to make up our own minds and be smarter.  We deserve so much more than to be just entertained.