Maria-gate: The Schwarzman bash

The New York Times's DealBook has a breathless report -- replete with photos -- of Blackstone Group CEO's Stephen Schwarzman's 60th birthday party at the Seventh Regiment Armory on New York's Park Avenue.

General Electric's (NYSE: GE) CNBC reporter Maria Bartiromo was there along with her husband, Jonathan Steinberg. This is an important development since it was not clear where things stood between her and Citigroup's (NYSE: C) former executive Todd Thomson and whether that would affect her marriage.

The Schwarzman bash may also have subtly influenced Dow Jones & Company's (NYSE: DJ) Wall Street Journal (a.k.a. The Towel). On Monday I got a call from the Towel's Alan Murray who told me he was writing an article on whether private equity was peaking. Murray had seen me on CNBC and interviewed me in detail -- requesting a copy of my post on the topic. Today his article [subscription required] came out -- gushing about Schwarzman's party and the prospects for the private equity business.

Make no mistake -- I would love to have attended this party. But as a news consumer, I wonder whether the opportunity to be counted among the New York glitterati has any affect on the objectivity of reporting on the industry.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Citigroup and GE shares and has no financial interest in Dow Jones.