Conde-Nast's Portfolio Business Magazine Blog Attacks Businessmen

TheDaily Brief, one of the blogs for the new Conde-Nast business magazine Portfolio, took some jabs June 1 at their target audience, businessmen, by comparing them to, “bitter banker” Mr. Potter in the movie “It’s A Wonderful Life”. The typical bias came courtesy of Megan Barnett, News Editor of Portfolio, who said:

“Like the ruthless Mr. Potter in “It’s A Wonderful Life”, hedge funds are attacking banks for being too soft on homeowners at risk of defaulting on their mortgages. The reason? Simple. Hedge funds would make more money if they didn't.”

Attacking business might not be a smart plan for a new magazine, “that chronicles how business shapes the world,” according to Editor-In-Chief of Portfolio Joanne Lipman, especially if in your debut issue you specifically frame your stories, as Lipman claims, around two subjects, “private equity firms and hedge funds.”

The blog post was in response to a report in the Financial Times that about a group of 25 hedge funds asking banks to stop helping homeowners avoid foreclosure.

Conde-Nast is a major publisher of such magazines as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Wired.