Paid Research Pumps Biosolar Stock -- With Help

Zac Bissonnette has a great item today about how Bloomberg news service lamentably picked up on a report by a paid research firm to pump a company called BioSolar.

There'd have been no harm if Bloomberg had disclosed that the firm, Beacon Equity Research, was paid handsomely in shares and restricted stock for its services.

I've long argued that the SEC should take the resources it devotes to pandering to naked shorting nuts and use it to address paid research -- a problem area it has completely neglected. But since that is unlikely to happen, the media needs to be vigilant that it is careful in using "research" from rent-an-analyst firms.

Hat tip: Talking Biz News.

© 2007 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.