John Tamny

Real Clear Markets — the sister site to the incredibly popular Real Clear Politics — has become the starting place for many financial media junkies. As the web continues to fill with more content and large outlets seem to have data on everything under the sun, news aggregators like RCM can help you get a feel for what’s important each day.

I recently caught up with RCM Editor-in-Chief John Tamny to talk about his site and how he provides an excellent overview of different hot topics …

Damien Hoffman: John, as the Editor-in-Chief of a widely popular financial news aggregator, can you explain what Real Clear Markets does?

John: On a daily basis, we’re trying to find the best articles in publications around the world to save the person interested in these things the time of searching.  We do it in a non-partisan way.  Our ideal scenario is to have fourteen articles in the morning on seven different issues where we give at least two sides to every issue.  That doesn’t happen everyday, but we’re trying to distill all the information so someone with little free time can find it and make decisions on their own.

Damien: Given that the majority of mainstream financial media outlets are biased to the bullish side, is there a specific demand you put on your staff to collect opinions from both sides?

John: Yes.  We don’t want Real Clear Markets to be discriminatory in a sense like, “Don’t come here if you’re not for the gold standard as I am.”  For example, I believe we could solve just about every problem by defining the dollar in terms of gold, but I regularly want to show there are other strong opinions on that subject.

Some days it’s hard to find a counter-argument to an article.  Sometimes we post articles because they are going to interest people who want to know about certain subjects.  Ideally we find opposing articles on the same day and can run them next to each other.  If we can’t, we obviously look for that in the future so we can always try to give two sides, or very often three sides, to different issues.

Damien: One of the keys to your success is presenting the most relevant content. How do you stay ahead of the curve?

John: We try to run what’s important or what is seemingly important.  I probably have a bias toward dollar related things because I think that’s the biggest issue out there right now.  What’s going to happen with the dollar?  I think it’s going to impact the markets and economy in a huge way.

From another perspective, I’ll give you an example of something we didn’t pay any attention to — and I think we were correct in our choice.  Back when the swine flu epidemic emerged, I made a point to ignore it.  I thought it was another over-hyped issue that didn’t mean much to finance.  I think we’ve been vindicated in that decision.  So, there are times when the major media jumps on an issue and we ignore it or I’ll suggest we ignore it.  During those times, as an Editor-in-Chief, you always hope you make the correct decision.

Damien: John, thanks for helping us better understand how news aggregation sites work. You are running one of the best.

John: Thanks, Damien. You are putting out great content. Keep up the good work.

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