The first rule of mainstream financial journalism: Never question a central bank

10:57p ET Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:

Reuters demonstrates again tonight its own uselessness to financial journalism and the uselessnes to financial journalism of mainstream news organizations generally:

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World Central Banks to Hold Fire in Face of Weak Dollar: Analysts

By Andy Bruce
Reuters
Wednesday, November 6, 2013

LONDON -- Global central banks are unlikely to take steps to make their currencies more competitive against the U.S. dollar, whose current weakness should prove to be temporary, a Reuters poll found.

... For the full story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/06/us-markets-forex-poll-euro-idU...

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The first rule at Reuters and other mainstream financial news organizations, from the Financial Times to The Wall Street Journal to Fox News, is: Never put a critical question about central banking to central banks themselves. Never ask the people who are directly responsible and really know. Always ask someone else, someone who doesn't know.

Of course a question of what a central bank might do with interest rates is speculative and no central bank may want to commit itself. But a question of what a central bank is already doing is not speculative. It is a matter of basic accountability in a democratic system of government. And to discern what central banks might do with interest rates, it may be necessary only to determine what they are doing in the gold market.

That Western central banks are in the gold market around the clock every day has been documented in great detail -- for example just recently:

http://www.gata.org/node/13185

So not asking them about it and not reporting at least their refusals to answer, reporting instead empty speculation from "analysts" about what central banks might do, is no better than disinformation.

CHRIS POWELL, Secretary/Treasurer
Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc.