A Dow Jones article on the Fidelity Magellan Fund and manager Harry Lange provides a glimpse at how fund firms and their portfolio managers are talking to shareholders about many funds' dismal performances so in 2008. Jon Kamp reports on a report sent to Magellan shareholders, in which Lange says that the fund had performed "not well" year-to-date, as of September 30.

In the broadest sense, the fund struggled because I underestimated how much the housing bust and the accompanying credit crisis might disrupt the financial markets," Kamp quotes Lange saying in the shareholder report. "Looking at sectors, stock selection in technology had a sizable negative impact on the fund's performance, as did my picks in financials."

It's a good bet that numerous other portfolio managers are sending out their own mea culpas to shareholders, too. 

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