Janet Guyon, editor-in-chief of TheStreet.com, demanded a retraction of a Washington Post article by Steven Pearlstein alleging that TheStreet.com writer Adam Feuerstein was writing articles designed to drive down the stock price of Northwest Biotherapeutics and aid short sellers. Guyon wrote in the strongest possible terms about the article, calling it “defamatory” and said it made Feuerstein out to be a “criminal.”
She explained that Feuerstein could not have had any direct advantage from driving down the share price in the biotech, because he, according to requirements made by TheStreet.com, has no positions in companies he writes about. Quoting Pearlstein, the editor criticized him for writing that Feuerstein was one of the “Wall Street wise guys who use sleazy tactics to manipulate share prices for short-term profit.”
Will you offer us a hand? Every gift, regardless of size, fuels our future.
Your critical contribution enables us to maintain our independence from shareholders or wealthy owners, allowing us to keep up reporting without bias. It means we can continue to make Jewish Business News available to everyone.
You can support us for as little as $1 via PayPal at [email protected].
Thank you.
Pearlstein could not demonstrate how Feuerstein directly profited from his negative articles on Northwest Biotherapeutics. Guyon argued that Pearlstein’s assertion that Feuerstein had not talked with the company’s management in seven years was false, and said she could provide emails proving that claim wrong. She added the small biotech has no approved drugs, not profits as of yet and Feuerstein was justified writing a negative article about the company without having to dodge accusations of trying to manipulate the stock price.
