Felix Salmon Sheds Light On Feud With Henry Blodget, Discusses Future Of Financial Media

Before the Internet was created, you didn't hear about too many journalists squaring off with CEOs. Boy, have times changed. The Internet – and most recently Twitter – has made it easier than ever for people to publicly state exactly what's on their minds.The latest (and perhaps most publicized) debate in the financial world was between Reuters financial journalist and blogging editor Felix Salmon and Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget.Salmon told Benzinga that the debate originally started when Blodget used a photo of two women kissing to illustrate a story about American International Group (NYSE: AIG). “I was like – what does this have to do with anything?” he said. “This very quickly grew into a debate about sensationalism, link trolling, and doing anything for page views.”Despite the battle of words, Salmon said that there are no hard feelings between them. “I think we both understand what we're doing.”Also in the interview, Benzinga asked Salmon what he thought about the future of financial media. “I believe there are actually fewer finance bloggers than there used to be,” he said. “You don't get as many independent bloggers as you did a couple years ago.”He said that he thinks most people will continue to get their financial information from a variety of sources, including social media.With regards to the various forms of media, Salmon said that while print is not dead, it is very expensive. “For the time being it's still pretty lucrative,” he said. “I think it's more of an example of media bias. They still pay large prices to get on the front page. Luxury goods, glossy magazines – I think they'll be around for a while.”Salmon believes that a lot of websites are getting smarter about learning how to sell inventory. But he is the first to point out that he doesn't have a crystal ball. “I'm not a forecaster,” he said. “Anyone who claims to know where we're heading in the long term is deluding themselves. It's hard enough to even know where we're going in the short term.”Looking ahead to the mid-term elections, Salmon said that he's looking for intellectual honesty. “People who are going to be constructive about how to help this very fragile economic recovery that we have to keep on going and gain a little more speed and turn into something more substantial.”The main thing, he said, is to be able to have smart conversations and to vote for things that make sense instead of voting along party lines or against whoever is in power.You can read the full interview with Salmon – or listen to the podcast – right here on Benzinga.com: Simply Stats – Interview with Felix Salmon, Blogging Editor for Reuters.