Was Larry Kramer contemplating his own part in the current economic turmoil? At our Future Of Business Media conference, the MarketWatch creator wondered aloud whether the obsessive, minute-by-minute reporting of each and every stock movement can spark market crises.

“There’s always a ticker going by ... and there are some people who do, effectively, real-time commentary. Are we causing this problem? Are we overthinking some of these issues? Are we taking on a role that’s problematic? Should we be billboarding the stock price every second and trying to react on the air? Does that present problems?”

New York Times Talking Business columnist Joe Nocera quickly seized on the irony of the moment, and joked: “This spoken from the man who founded MarketWatch! Y’know, the guy’s got some nerve! I understand he cashed out already!”

Nocera, whom Kramer called the best in the business, said it’s “pointless to think you can roll back” the demand for up-to-the-minute financial news. But maybe, a good point from a consumer perspective…if you ever had the urge to unplug your life, well, well, you just got your chance…

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