New research shows what avid readers of the financial press have known well for the last couple of years, GoldFinger’s colleagues in the ind...

New research shows what avid readers of the financial press have known well for the last couple of years, GoldFinger’s colleagues in the industry are obsessed with hedge funds.

According to New York-based public relations firm Walek & Associates, hedge funds were featured in 39,989 news stories last year- a good many of these appeared in WealthBriefing. This represents a 43 per cent increase over last year’s tally.

But it’s not just industry moves, performance and strategies that excite the hacks. As ever, the media spotlight turns to hedge funds that experience problems, be they regulatory or performance based. Any hint of criminal activity – not unknown in this sometimes-murky world – is guaranteed to produce a flurry of activity among the world’s financial press.

"The media's relationship with hedge funds can best be seen as a blind date that has blossomed into a torrid affair," the firm wrote in its report.