Forbes Pokes Fun at Yale Student - All in the Name of “Journalism”

by Lid

I am just about done with mainstream media.

Forbes.com has decided to continue humiliating Yale senior student Aleksey Vayner, after the aspiring investment banker applied for a job on Wall Street. Vayner, trying to be innovative in his application, sent a video along with his resume to financial giant UBS, a wealth management company who describes itself as a “Global financial firm with the heart and soul of a two-person organization.”

Well, turns out they thought the application was great. They passed Vayner’s clip on, and on, and on - until it got to YouTube. Terrific you think. Yes, but for the tag: “Wall Street’s Laughingstock.”

Forbes.com noticed the story and decided they too will make a video. “How not to apply for a job, worst resume ever” is their story, and they tell it well. Forbes.com include a 95-second excerpt from the original video with a smiling Annalisa Burgos telling the world, “YouTube pulled the video off,” but adds, “You’re in luck as Forbes.com has it.” Go Annalisa, kudos to those clever citizen media types, ok, Google, but what exactly does it say about Forbes?

Forbes is a privately held publishing company that has been around since 1917 and has an online division called Forbes.com. Forbes.com claim to be the No. 1 business site, as well as one of the most trusted resources for business executives. Obviously, they want to give execs a giggle, and perhaps warn them off hiring this joke they call Vayner; all in the name of professional journalism. Way to go Forbes.

Citizen media is getting so much flack from the big guns, yet paradoxically, it seems the problem with mainstream media is mainstream media itself. The audience is a little tired of listening to what “professional” journalists have to say, and have taken matters into their own hands. Voila News V2.0! Perhaps, if they paid attention to what Dan Gillmor has been saying all along “My readersknow more than I do,” they wouldn’t have this problem. They could - shock horror - listen to their audience and win back some public confidence. My guess is, they are still too busy patting themselves on the back for a job well done to care

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