Attention laid-off financial journalists: The SEC is interested in your services.

After realizing that untrained reporters straight out of journalism school are better at hunting down financial crimes in progress than its own crew of expert lawyers and accountants, SEC chief Mary Schapiro told the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit that "Investigative journalism actually would be a pretty interesting skill set for us to have. We've talked about financial analysis, we've talked about forensic accounting being skill sets that we really need -- understanding of complex trading, strategies and systems, but it's one of the things the SEC has to do. It has to really broaden its horizons and bring in people who think about things a little differently than it has historically."

When Portfolio recently shut its doors, it left some really, really talented and knowledgeable financial journalists jobless (although most were top-tier enough that they'll find more work quickly and won't be tempted by a job with a government bureaucracy -- the top financial journalists I know would, I'm sure, never dream of working for the SEC), this would seem to be an ideal time for the SEC to experiment with hiring journalists who have track records of cracking securities fraud cases outside of the regulatory bodies.

If you want to get Patrick Byrne's take on naked short selling and the alleged conspiracy (involving class-action lawyers, hedge funds, and journalists) against his company, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), then Deep Capture, the Movie is a good place to get it.

In the 45th slide of the presentation, to provide evidence of the journalistic conspiracy, Mr. Byrne plays a clip of former New York Post business editor Dan Colarusso speaking to Herb Greenberg, Joe Nocera, and Dave Kansas: "When I think of Patrick Byrne ... We have barrels of ink and stacks of money and all the resources in the world at our disposal, legal and, indeed our media, to crush him."

Is this indicative of a conspiracy? Speaking on Mad Money with Jim Cramer about Mr. Byrne, Herb Greenberg said that "the real conspiracy, if there's a conspiracy, is a conspiracy by these people to silence the critics."

Exactly. And here's a tip for Mr. Byrne: Journalists tend to be big believers in free speech. When you attack their ethics, attempt to intimidate them into silence, and an employee of your company sets up a website to smear them -- that angers journalists, and they jump to each others' defense.

Was there a conspiracy of journalists against Patrick Byrne? I seriously doubt it. But Byrne's efforts to silence his critics have made him an enemy of journalists and lovers of the First Amendment everywhere. Maybe that's the conspiracy.

News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch is launching a charm offensive to convince reporters at the Wall Street Journal not to jump ship once his $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ) becomes official, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Times says Murdoch has called at least 3 reporters who were weighing job offers. No doubt, he'll call even more in the coming weeks.

But even if he didn't enjoy a deserved reputation for meddling in editorial affairs, Murdoch would have his work cut out for him. We journalists take pride in having a thick skin that's schmooze resistant. In fact, workplace romances are very common in newsrooms because it's a good place for cynical people to meet other cynical people. It's sad, I know. Murdoch, though, has to give it his best shot.

The tycoon is eager to prove to his many naysayers and advertisers that he's not going to wreck a great newspaper. No doubt, the paper's star reporters and editors will be promised everything short of a guest star role in "The Simpsons" to stay. Many Journal staffers will stay put because the paper pays pretty well and jobs in the industry aren't real plentiful.

After reading the story, the classic blues song "Baby Please Don't Go" popped into my head and now just won't leave. Them, the group which first brought Van Morrison to fame, recorded a great version of the tune in the 1960s. Please enjoy the video courtesy of YouTube.