James,

Thank you.

One of the underlying problems is that financial media are based on an advertising model. This rewards popularity more than accuracy.

Moreover, if popularity is the key metric, there are many ways to game the system, by preying on investor's fears or by inflaming extremist controversies. The advertising model also rewards novelty, particularly claims of new ways to beat the market.

I'm beginning to think that subscriptions are a better business model than advertising. This is healthier for the media and for the general public.

This doesn't completely solve the problem, as evidenced by scientific journals. These subscriptions are expensive, but are often full of claims that cannot be replicated. (Just Google the words "replication crisis science" to find out more, or go to the Wikipedia article, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis ).

Thanks again, and please feel free to point out stuff that I've missed. There are two more articles in this series, and I'm looking forward to hearing how other investors deal with the issues I've raised.

Sincerely,
Rob