I haven't heard of another story recently that reinforces the need to check and double check information before making financial decisions. On Monday an investment newsletter mistakenly sent out a story about United Airlines (UAL) filing for bankruptcy which caused the price of the stock to drop as worried investors banged out, "sell, sell, sell!" on their keyboards.

The only problem was that the bankruptcy story, passed off as a current event by the investment newsletter, actually happened back in 2002. Something that investors could have figured out if they took a minute to read the article or confirm information.

United denied the rumor that it was undergoing bankruptcy after it became clear that this old news had caused its stock price to drop Monday. Analysts expect United's stock to make a recover as the market opens on Tuesday, which could cause the investors who pulled out on Monday a loss if they haven't been paying attention to today's news.

Slightly more troubling is the fact that Income Securities Advisors Inc, the company who published the item sees nothing wrong with the action and doesn't plan to put any measures in place to prevent old news from being republished in the future.

Don't get me wrong, the losses on this one lie at the hands of investors who didn't adequately research a piece of information before acting on it, and I am sure some of them will suffer financially for their rashness. In another example of market forces, I'm sure that by not addressing the issue, Income Securities Advisors Inc's newsletter will be dealt with accordingly as readers look for more reliable sources of information. Don't forget a hot tip to sell stock should be given the same research that a hot tip to buy stock gets. Don't get burned by your own lack of ignorance.

MSNBC decided over the weekend to pull Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from live coverage of political events. For months NBC has been fretting over whether the two liberal-leaning anchors have broken the old TV news formula and rules. Yes, of course, they've broken the rules and that's why people like them.

Olbermann and his brash style of news analysis is why MSNBC is the top cable news network among 18-34-year olds. Matthews and his unrelenting questioning of Democrats and Republicans alike is why MSNBC drew 37,000 more young viewers than it did last year, while flavorless NBC News only grew that part of the audience by 2,000. Olbermann and Matthews are the reason why MSNBC is always on at the gym or anyplace else younger viewers pick the news channel.

The standard TV rules seem to require news readers to present issues in a flaccid, straight faced he-said, she-said style. The old standard is to defer to elected officials and whatever they say. If facts are challenged, it's from someone who's put up by the other side to argue or in a segregated "fact-check" segment. The emotional range of a TV news anchor is supposed to go from earnestness to consternation and, on rare occasions, to earnest consternation. The Daily Show and the Colbert Report would not have an audience if network news didn't provide such a mockable target.

Traditional TV news is cowed by authority figures. Network news dutifully reports anything a celebrity, politician or corporation says if they say it with authority. TV network news has no way to respond to the Orwellian naming conventions of the Bush Administration ("Healthy Forest Initiative", "Clear Skies Act," etc.) Network TV news is flummoxed when politicians just repeat political talking points. They interview elected officials and let them get away with dodging questions by repeating slogans. Look at this clip of Chris Matthews nailing an Obama supporter for not knowing his legislative accomplishments. This is how every journalist should do the job.

Nuggets of news you need today:

• Continental Airlines to Cut 3,000 Jobs
• Consumers Hit Malls, Boost Retails Sales After All
• Summer Airfares Double, Triple, Quadruple
• Wal-Mart May Sales Going Up
• Seaside City Suffers Nation's Priciest Gas
• Charles Dickens Desk Sells for $850,000
• McCain versus Obama on the Economy
• Iditarod Raises Race Entry Fee by More than Double
• Next Food Shortage: Ice Cream?

Your money elsewhere on the web:

• More Than Even, Warren Buffett is the Face of Financial Success
• Some Small Towns Opt to Buy Terrorism Insurance
• Be Cautious When Funding FSA's -- How Safe is your Insurance Company?
• The Trick to Getting a Bad Mortgage Fixed
• Save the Planet, Save Some Money with a Green Lifestyle
• Six Fixes for Pricey Gasoline
• 16 Sweet Used Car Fuel Sippers
• Wal-Mart, Your Friendly Drugstore
• All Business, Always Trouble: What's at the heart of the all-business-class airlines failures? Real estate
• Housing Downturn is a Boon for Some Renters
• How the Rich Spend During a Down Economy
• The 50 Highest-Earning Athletes in the U.S.

Blog Roll:

• Trying to Save Gas Makes People Very Angry
• The Digerati Life Compares Life Now to 1998
• The Frugal Dutchess Book Party

This from Hillary Russ in the Cape Cod Times: "A local schoolgirl took prank calling to a new low yesterday when she dialed 911 with disturbing fake calls more than a dozen times." While riding home on the school bus, she repeatedly told the state police that "someone was going to die."

It must have been a rough day in school.

It turns out that more than 30% of 911 calls in Massachusetts are non-emergencies and about 5% are "threatening, aggravating, abusive or harassing to the police." Laws on "aggravated 911 nonemergency calls" vary from state to state. Fortunately, the parents were upset and apologetic and this happened in the Bay State. The police chief had the sense to conclude that it was "probably more important to re-educate the kids on the importance of not crying wolf" than it was to press charges.

Put three economists into a room and you'll get five different opinions. For the past six months, the talking heads of finance have been arguing about whether a recession is coming, and whether we can do anything, anything at all, to prevent it.

In the last six months, the headlines have become more and more hysterical. Recession Coming! Recession Coming! OMG What can we do to prevent Recession?! Here's a favorite from today: Three out of five indicators suggest we might already be in recession.

Recession is a normal part of the business cycle. But to hear the bleating of today's headlines, you'd think they were talking about the Black Death.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how business bloggers can make money directly and indirectly from blogging. And it's clear that there are many opportunities for established bloggers to be seen and heard around the globe.

A survey of American journalists shows that blogging is having an impact on news reporting. Not only is it helping news to travel faster, blogging is also influencing the tone of articles. Journalists are looking toward blogs for ideas and content. While only a small number of journalists say that blogs are helping them find exclusive stories, many are still using blogs to get a feel for the context of a story or a new angle for a story.

The survey found that almost 70% of reporters have a list of blogs that they check regularly. Over 20% said they spend an hour or more per day reading blogs.