On Monday, Fox’s Charles Payne just happened to be a guest on Your World and that just happened to give host Neil Cavuto a chance to promote Payne’s new show, Making Money, on Fox Business - which just happened to premiere that night. But Cavuto left out some details of Payne’s resumé that the “we report, you decide” network’s viewers might think of as kind of crucial.
Cavuto said:
I’ve known this guy for years. I’m biased, he’s a great friend and all, but this is going to be a great show, and if you don’t watch it, you’re missing part of a great lineup.
…If you were to invest in just some of the names he’s just routinely spouted on FBN or even on our weekend show, you’d be making pay dirt. So he walks the walk, and now’s your chance to share in the money. …You don’t watch it, then you’re a loser.
But here’s what Cavuto left out, from Media Matters:
That Payne has a talent for identifying growth may be a surprise to someone who followed some of Payne’s previous stock advice. After joining Fox in 2007, Payne was compensated to push the prospects of three stocks, as Media Matters documented in July 2013. Payne used his Fox credentials in promotional materials to assure skeptical investors that his advice was trustworthy. The stock of those companies are now virtually worthless:
…The practice of compensated stock endorsements is currently prohibited by Fox rules, and resulted in the contract termination of contributor Tobin Smith. Payne responded to inquiries from Media Matters by ducking questions and scrubbing his corporate website of information.
Payne and his company, Wall Street Strategies, have a problematic history related to the proper disclosure of stock recommendations. In 1999, the SEC announced that while not “admitting or denying” wrongdoings, Payne “agreed to pay a civil penalty of $25,000.”
But Payne has a long history of promoting Fox News’ right-wing economic philosophy. Apparently, that trumps everything.