I guess the Gamson book you're talking about is "Claims to Fame"? Reminds me of Neal Gabler on Moyer's & co recently.
and yes, incidentally, recent lbo discussion about Stratfor was probably part of my thinking when I asked this question.
Mauldin for instance speaks very highly of Stratfor and they in turn provide him sample research more than a few times a year to include verbatim in his newsletter.
On 3/6/12, shag carpet bomb <shag at cleandraws.com> wrote:
> are these guys like the spy-chasers at Stratfor? They trade in information
> that is widely available, packaging it up and reselling it as some sort of
> insight into the working of the economy, markets, etc. Small chunks of
> information suitable for reading on the john.
>
> I suppose one giant book ought to be written on this sort of occupation in
> an "information economy:" gossip shows, financial newsletter writers,
> spy-chasers? Joshua Gamson wrote an interesting book on celebrity and
> gossip that would certainly lend insight.
>
> At 05:59 AM 3/6/2012, Tony Rolfe wrote:
>>seems to me more and moer, finance-centric newsletters are a big deal.
>> John Mauldin is a big deal. David Rosenburg is a big deal. on it
>>goes.
>>
>>Do you know anyone that has looked at this phenomenon or something
>>similar? They all read as if you're getting some sort of
>>personalized advice (I'm one of Mauldin's "gentle readers"), but the
>>distribution lists are gigantic--so the material is massaged for a
>>wide audience. And it's very political material, book reviews, etc..
>>a culture guide almost.
>>
>>Anyone looked at the finance newsletter phenom?
>>___________________________________
>>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
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