Thank you for your fearless and tireless effort informing us of yet one more (apparently) condoned scam. I agree completely with Claudia’s “Non-response is a response”. I’m sending all of this to my respective (Texas) Congressmen. It will be interesting and possibly informative to see what responses I receive. In retrospect, I think I will buy one last issue of Fortune and personally email their prominent advertisers informing them that I will boycott their products as long as they continue to buy space in a publication that will not respond to such serious and possibly criminal allegations. I will also encourage everyone possible to do the same. Keep up the great work and thanks again.

Jason Armstrong

I want to take the time & give you applause!! Wonderful! It is clear that there is good and evil in this world! I admire your courage to stand up for the right thing! I will never look at Fortune the same again! Matter of fact I don’t think I will be looking at it ever again!
May God bless you Patrick.
Sincerely a happy customer of Overstock,
Melissa Sharp

I am writing regarding the allegations by Patrick Byrne (www.deepcapture.com) and was curious if you would please reply to me to confirm or disconfirm these allegations. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt before I prove them guilty, so I would like to hear from your first before I prove Time guilty of the alleged.

I have been a Time subscriber for many years and would hate to know that what I was reading was biased or in anyway misleading. If this allegation was true it would be a substantial hit to Time’s reputation so it would be great if you could please provide the truth good or bad (your conscience is calling!)

I hope to hear from you soon,

Thank you,

Kyle Holmes

I am writing regarding the allegations by Patrick Byrne (www.deepcapture.com) and was curious if you would please reply to me to confirm or disconfirm these allegations. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt before I prove them guilty, so I would like to hear from your first before I prove Fortune guilty of the alleged.

I have been a Fortune subscriber for many years and would hate to know that what I was reading was biased or in anyway misleading. If this allegation was true it would be a substantial hit to Fortune’s reputation so it would be great if you could please provide the truth good or bad (your conscience is calling!)
I hope to hear from you soon,

Thank you,

Kyle Holmes

No worries. Nothing I did not expect.

Or should we start canceling our subscriptions?

Dear Mr. Serwer and Ms. Reitz,

Please be so kind to answer Dr. Byrne’s request.

With every best wish,

Dr. Byrne has documented the very questionable, and probably illegal, actions of Bethany McLean and requested a response from you. In a court of law, pleading the 5th Amendment is an understandable strategy, whether guilty or innocent. In the court of public opinion, however, where we now reside, this is a very questionable tactic, especially with respect to a company who’s success depends upon it’s reputation and integrity. Why will you not defend your magazine?

A very interested reader.

Where else could one “borrow” equity with the hope it goes down in value immediately?

There are simple economic answers to all these problems: why isn’t the cost of “borrowing” more than the spread when they “win” and America loses? If it goes down 6%, the “borrowing” fee is a mere 9%.

Want to move offshore and not pay American taxes? No problem. We’ll just charge former-American companies three times the rate they would’ve paid if they stayed for all their new transactions in America.

It appears that they have accused you guys/girls of front running a story for a hedge fund.

As a former subscriber of Fortune I would renew my subscription if you could please answer these claims.

Yours truly,

XOXOXO

I am eagerly awaiting an answer from Fortune magazine to the allegations Dr. Patrick Byrne describes in his blog http://www.deepcapture.com.

Thank you,

BillZ

It might make them wonder when Fortune would allow a short-n-distort article to be done about their own company.

We who follow the trail of criminal activity and the amazing proclivity of the press and other media to support and protect the criminals that proliferate the equity markets should not be surprised at yet another demonstration of corruption, arrogance and complicity, this time by Fortune Magazine. Should be renamed mis-Fortune.
We have become such an entangled and litigeous society that even an apology may invite a lawsuit. But Fortune knows how to correct their unfortunate position without exposure and their unwillingness to do so speaks volumes for their ethics and motives.
Guido Volante

I have become aware of disturbing circumstances surrounding Bethany McLean and the hedge fund formerly known as Rocker Partners. Patrick Byrne’s “Deep Capture” blog contains two emails that Patrick has forwarded to both of you with a series of questions.

Will you be answering Patrick’s questions?

Sincerely,

KFLNY

Mr. Serwer,

I am not in the habit of writing letters such as this. However, due to recent events, I find that my disgust can no longer be contained and kept quiet.

Based on my reading of the Deep Capture website (http://www.deepcapture.com), as well as other publications that are critical of the American Financial press, I have been convinced that Fortune magazine has allowed its reporters to abuse the trust that your readers have given you. I feel that trust is further damaged by your refusal to answer direct questions about the actions of one of your reporters (Bethany McLean) and her now-exposed involvement with a short selling hedge fund. Furthermore, I am entirely convinced that the many of the unregulated hedge funds, with the complicity of their lapdogs in the financial media, have caused significant damage to the trust in our financial institutions and our system, simply for their own personal gain. Your refusal to publicly address these matters makes you equally culpable.

I have been a subscriber to Fortune for many years. I can guarantee you this; if you continue to maintain your silence regarding this issue, I will cancel my subscription and make an annual contribution to the Deep Capture efforts instead.

Sincerely,

John B.
Patterson, New York

Hello Modern Day Journalists,

A group of us were sitting around the office the other day having a discussion about modern day journalism. What happened to it?

“I remember covering a story in my younger days,” a gray haired friend started to say. He is in his mid-50s now. “There was a fire at a local mall. Ten people died. I wrote the article mentioning that fact but I put the word ‘unfortunately’ in front of it. ‘Unfortunately, ten people died.’ My editor struck the word ‘unfortunately’. He said it did not belong. Then he went into a big dissertation of how some of the deaths may not be considered unfortunate to some people.”

Wow! Now there’s some extreme editorial comment. I would never stand for such, even if some of the ten were my worst enemies. At least the editor was trying to think of everyone.

In today’s journalism, it appears positions are taken and once those positions are taken, all reporting is done honoring those positions. Friends, business relationships and personal philosophy dictate those sorts of things. No objective journalism is to be found. And now, with this scam and scheme DeepCapture has uncovered, journalism has dipped to a new low. The actual collusion of a journalist with a man, a former enforcement agent for the SEC, and a hedge fund company that can move the market, is appalling. I would think a publication would want to protect its reputation and speak out against such a thing.

I was in on a conference call last week with a company that prints magazines. The purpose of the call was to discuss how we were going to handle the current economic disaster. One of the seasoned men at the firm said, “Quality of editorial content is what sells magazines.” I would think Fortune Magazine would want to address this damning situation and state that the desires of Bethany McLean and Rocker Partners are not the quality it stands for. Meanwhile, the conference call I mentioned was actually necessary because of the shenanigans of Bethany McLean and Rocker Partners. They really hurt our economy.

Writers like Bethany McLean obviously aren’t thinking straight. People do stupid things for money. She neglected to think about the citizens with whom she shares this great country. Unfortunately, probably for some, we share many things: work places, grocery store aisles, the highway, apartment buildings, the economy and the stock market. I am sure if anyone interfered with Bethany’s space in the first four examples, she would elbow her way around to remind whoever, that she shares that space too. She and all financial journalists should think about that concerning the economy and the stock market. All they need to do is look at today’s economy to see what I mean.

Oh, I can hear the Fortune Magazine people now, “It is for our subscribers. Our 866,859 paid subscribers!” No, sorry, influencing your subscribers and all the non-subcribers who happen upon your article defies even morals you would expect from others. We all share the stock market. We all share the economy. And if you think you make the rules, guess what? We tried it your way and look where we are today. No, thank you. You are wrong and you are even more wrong if you do not address this, immediately.

Unfortunately yours,
A Concerned Citizen

Just a quick note to add to the plethora of condemnation of Fortune for the Bethany McLean debacle exposed in Deep Capture.

How about an explanation? Or apology? Or investigation? Or some semblance of an attempt to legitimize your publication as anything other than another captured PR arm of criminal elements on Wall Street?

I personally know many readers of Fortune who have now ceased buying the magazine and are boycotting the online version as well. Most have also contacted your advertisers (and CNN which links to you), just as I have done.

Good day, and Happy New Year.

xxx x’xxxxx

Please tell me Fortune Magazine does not condone its reporter participating in a illegal scheme, at the direction of a hedge fund, to drive down the price of a publicly traded company. Or better yet get your lawyers to issue a response, if that would be easier and ease your conscience.

This is to add my voice in requesting you respond to Patrick Byrne in this matter set forth here.
http://www.deepcapture.com/fortune-magazine-stonewalls-exposure-of-bethany-mclean-perfidy/#comments

Happy New Year, Jimboyo

Dr. Patrick Byrne has contacted you about the integrity of your magazine – specifically Bethany McLean’s relationship with Rocker Partners – and as a subscriber to Fortune, I politely demand a response from you on the subject.

It would appear through court records that you have a corrupt journalist on staff and as such, I want to know what you have done about this to protect the integrity of a magazine I have trusted in the past. I am going to cancel my subscription in 30 days if I have not seen public comment from you on this subject. In addition, I am forwarding this story to all of my colleagues, many of which have not seen Dr. Byrne’s article, and asking them to cancel any subscriptions they have with Fortune as well if you remain silent.

I remind you, you have nothing without journalistic integrity, and it appears you are being reckless with respect to protecting that integrity. Should you decide to remain silent I will also write to the Board of Directors of Time Warner and put them on notice as well that you are breaching your fiduciary duty to shareholders to protect the value of your magazine.

I await your prompt, public, reply on this issue.