Back in September, Bloomberg Markets magazine ran a cover story entitled "The Insurance Hoax: Property insurers use secret tactics to cheat customers out of payments--as profits break records."

Needless to say, the insurance industry slammed the piece, calling it simplistic, reckless and inaccurate. And reckless. And inaccurate. They also expressed shock the that a business magazine would take such a critical, one-sided position.

As it happens, the people at the Deadline Club, a branch of the Society of Professional Journalists, have a different opinion. They think the article was pretty good—better than good, even. They’ve nominated the Bloomberg article for an award—the “Daniel Pearl Award for Investigative Reporting.”

Once again, the chorus from the industry is that the story is reckless, inaccurate and reckless, and that giving it an award—an award named after a truly heroic journalist—is a sham and an insult.

If you haven’t read it, here’s the offending Bloomberg article. Here’s the Insurance Information Institute’s rebuttal. Here’s the Deadline Club’s web site.

The InsureMe Agent Blog: We link, you decide.