Monday, March 2, 2009

Warren Buffett's Letter & the Indian media

"Indian successor at Berkshire?" screamed the headlines of almost all Indian newspapers (at least English). Now what is the problem with us Indians and the Indian media that we need to find an Indian angle to every story and once we find it, expand the same and make it an issue for India. The annual letter is a watershed event where investors across the world eagerly wait to see what Warren Buffett has to comment. And this letter was no different. There was a hell lot of things to follow, learn and understand.

Instead of reporting all this in detail, even the financial dailies succumbed to the above headline. Much as this is like herd mentality, at least it would been okay of there was actually some reference to the fact in the letter. Warren Buffett has been praising Ajit Jain for quite some time now in all his letters. Insurance is the biggest operation at Berkshire and Ajit Jain is considered to be one of the smartest guys in Insurance. There was nothing new this time as well. There was absolutely no hint of anointing him as a successor (Believe me, I went through the letter thrice and that is three times more than most media people seem to have done) and it is highly unlikely that Warren Buffett would have deliberately hinted anything.

This shows that none of the journalists who reported the story knows anything about Warren Buffett or Berkshire and for sure, they haven' read the previous letters. Not necessarily expected from them but shouldn't we stop doing this India thingy in the media. Or is it just to attract eyeballs and advertisements.

No comments: