SEC, Sun Looking at Blogs for Fair Disclosure

According to the AP, SEC Chief Christopher Cox has invited Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz "to talk to the agency about the idea of allowing companies to disclose significant financial information through blogs."

How did he extend the invite? Via a comment on Schwartz' blog appropriately enough. Schwartz requested that blogs be included into Regulation FD "as a way to expand investors' access to information."

Wow. Could this spell the end of the news release? Sorry Tom, not just yet. I do think it will accelerate the development of the social media news release. This is something even PR Newswire and Businesswire have been busy developing.

A growing number of major companies now publish corporate blogs or online diaries. The SEC position is that current regulations do allow for blogs to be used to disseminate companies' financial information, provided a particular blog reaches a broad audience.

This does more to revive the discussion around CEO blogs and, unfortunately, applying MSM metrics to social media's most powerful tool.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | regulation FD | SEC | CEO blogs | blog | Jonathan Schwartz | | news release| social media

Comments

[Amy Gahran]

Hi, Kevin

Thanks for bringing this to my attentions.

I just looked at Schwartz's blog post (http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/one_small_step_for_the) containing his open letter to Cox. I didn't see any comment from Cox responding to the letter. I'm sure I must be mising something. Can you provide a direct link to Cox's comment in response to Schwartz on Schwartz's blog?

Thanks,

- Amy Gahran

[Kevin Dugan]

Amy: No problem.

Here is a link to the comment:
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/sunlight_on_a_cloudy_day...#comments

Courtesy of the WSJ Law Blog's take on it:
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/11/06/sec-chairman-cox-posts-a-comment-on-a-blog/