tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1 2008-05-09T15:26:41Z Movable Type 3.2 tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15747 2008-05-09T13:20:37Z 2008-05-09T15:26:41Z

Plus, NYT strong work on NYT housing and a powerful senator; Toyota's skids; the container shortage. etc.

Ryan Chittum Insurance giant American International Group posted a record $7.8 billion loss in the first quarter as it wrote down more than $15 billion in assets, much of them mortgage-related, and said it needed to raise more than $12 billion to shore up its capital. The Wall Street Journal on its page one says the news illustrates that “while... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15736 2008-05-08T18:16:43Z 2008-05-09T15:26:41Z

A struggle over the editor was about much more than turf

Dean Starkman LAKE JACKSON, Texas -- When Lisa Kelly learned she had leukemia in late 2006, her doctor advised her to seek urgent care at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. But the nonprofit hospital refused to accept Mrs. Kelly's limited insurance. It asked for $105,000 in cash before it would admit her. Sitting in the hospital's business office, Mrs. Kelly... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15739 2008-05-08T12:48:53Z 2008-05-09T15:26:42Z

SEC's new rules; fluffing the mortgage numbers; Moody's man out; etc.

Ryan Chittum Stocks fell the most in four weeks, with the Dow dropping 206 points (1.6 percent) and financial shares tumbling 3.7 percent. The Wall Street Journal blames the financials drop on investors taking profits they’ve made in the run-up of the last few weeks and on another record for oil prices, but Bloomberg’s lead cause is the Securities... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15727 2008-05-07T12:15:08Z 2008-05-08T18:21:56Z

But no one’s talking about using less; Myanmar’s rice harvest hit; greenback bulks up; etc.

Ryan Chittum The price of oil continued its record rise, and the papers all give major play to stories on how much higher it’ll go. The Financial Times on page one reports that a Goldman Sachs analyst, “who three years ago correctly predicted a price ‘super-spike’ above $100 a barrel,” says crude could hit $200 in the next six months... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15717 2008-05-06T12:18:47Z 2008-05-07T17:50:52Z

Analyst urges B of A to bail; Sprint wants to unload Nextel; Fannie and Freddie need help; etc.

Ryan Chittum Investors bailed out of Countrywide Financial yesterday, sending its shares down 10 percent after an analyst said Bank of America would lower its price to as little as $0 a share and urged it to bail out of the deal. The Wall Street Journal for some reason leads its C1 story with “people familiar” with Bank of America’s... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15709 2008-05-05T15:05:09Z 2008-05-07T12:39:25Z

Plus, a great healthcare story; deal madness; Directors vs. directors, etc.

Elinore Longobardi A Credit to Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times for something she declined to take credit for herself. Morgenson’s reported Tuesday that a Senate subcommittee will examine the extent to which mortgage lenders have extended their sleazeball tactics even into bankrucpty court. As the mortgage crisis has spread, an army of law firms, loan servicers and foreclosure... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15704 2008-05-05T12:11:05Z 2008-05-06T12:39:56Z

If Microsoft went hostile; Buffett: we avoided worst of financial crisis; U.S. like S. Korea, 1997?

Ryan Chittum The business press goes wide with Microsoft backing away from its unsolicited bid for Yahoo, ending for the moment a pursuit that could have reconstituted Internet competition. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times all go above the fold with stories on the $44.5 billion bid’s collapse (Yahoo wanted another $8 billion or so). The... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15693 2008-05-02T12:21:00Z 2008-05-05T17:18:03Z

Cracks down on credit-card industry; is SUV era over?; ExxonMobil has another record quarter; etc.

Ryan Chittum The Washington Post on A1 says the Federal Reserve and other bank regulators will unleash “one of the most aggressive efforts in decades” against abusive credit-card industry practices. This expected wave of oversight must be real after all. The proposed regulations, which could be finalized by year's end, would label as "unfair or deceptive" practices that consumers have... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15663 2008-05-01T20:00:56Z 2008-05-05T12:44:36Z

The Bancroft’s opera singer/News Corp. director is “unavailable for comment”

Dean Starkman tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15682 2008-05-01T12:20:55Z 2008-05-02T17:44:45Z

just barely and it won’t last; another Fed rate cut; Rent-A-Center squeezes food banks; etc.

Ryan Chittum tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15676 2008-04-30T16:52:27Z 2008-05-02T12:46:57Z

It gets benefit of doubt, but now it’s time to fight

Dean Starkman At a certain point, tragedy turns into farce, and we are getting awfully close to clown-car territory at The Wall Street Journal. The special committee on editorial integrity, created last year as part of the News Corp. deal for the Journal’s deadbeat parent, Dow Jones & Co., issued a statement saying it objected to being treated, literally, as an... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15675 2008-04-30T12:47:54Z 2008-05-01T22:34:08Z

No end in sight; FBI is after Countrywide; factory farms are bad; Citigroup panhandles; etc.

Ryan Chittum In today’s house-o-rama, home prices fell faster last month than at any time in a key index’s two decades, dropping nearly 14 percent in February from a year earlier, according to the Case-Shiller index of ten major cities (prices dropped 13 percent in the twenty-city index). The papers quote analysts saying there’s no sign of any turnaround, with... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15667 2008-04-29T12:29:07Z 2008-05-01T16:24:22Z

Oil production not rising, but demand is; speculators swarm food crisis; Kerkorian buys up Ford stock...watch out; etc.

Ryan Chittum The New York Times on page one looks behind the inexorable rise in oil and gas prices the last few years and finds that despite economic models predictions, oil production isn’t increasing as expected, nor is demand falling. A small decline in U.S. and other rich countries’ oil usage has been more than offset by increased thirst from... tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15651 2008-04-28T16:50:32Z 2008-04-30T12:51:20Z

For WSJ, less is less; FT plays Boswell again; NYT unwinds ratings snarl; contrarian runs amok, etc.

Elinore Longobardi tag:www.cjr.org,2008://1.15654 2008-04-28T12:18:36Z 2008-04-29T21:52:31Z

Mortgage industry cries foul over new regs; more Murdoch; hospitals demanding pay upfront; etc.

Ryan Chittum The New York Times fronts a story on how the mortgage industry is fighting tougher regulations proposed by the Federal Reserve. The opposition is already prompting the Fed to consider scaling back its plans. The regulations would cover all subprime loans and many middle-tier loans, but wouldn’t apply to most prime loans. The mortgage business says the rules...