tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4 2010-03-20T00:02:31Z Columbia Journalism Review: Strong Press, Strong Democracy Movable Type 3.2 tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23338 2010-03-20T00:00:41Z 2010-03-20T00:02:31Z

By Ryan Chittum I was highly critical of a William D. Cohan piece in the Times two weeks ago pleading for mercy for a convicted white-collar criminal. So it's nice to be able to applaud a Cohan piece this week: Frankly, the idea that Fuld was unaware of Repo 105 is not credible, especially as he was devoted to reducing the... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23337 2010-03-19T19:26:43Z 2010-03-19T19:33:00Z

By Ryan Chittum tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23336 2010-03-19T17:46:21Z 2010-03-19T17:49:05Z

A seal program promoting transparency, accountability, and openness

By Craig Silverman It started, as many things do in journalism, with a pen and paper. Close to three years ago at a Journalism That Matters event in Washington, D.C., John Hamer, president of the Washington News Council, was thinking about the double standard that exists with journalism and the institutions and people it covers. “What journalism needs more of... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23335 2010-03-19T16:48:25Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

Erskine Bowles takes the stage

By Trudy Lieberman Those who consider themselves Social Security mavens know the name Erskine Bowles. Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, and currently president of the University of North Carolina system, Bowles has teamed up with former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson to head the newly created deficit reduction commission. The president tasked the commission with finding ways to reduce the federal deficit and... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23334 2010-03-19T16:34:17Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Holly Yeager Amid all the spinning and sparring over the Congressional Budget Office’s assessment of health care legislation, a couple of stories stand out for bringing much-needed context to the proceedings. The Washington Post did a smart analysis, pointing out what should be obvious but too often goes unsaid: despite all the hype around the 25-page "score" of the proposal, no... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23333 2010-03-19T15:30:28Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Ryan Chittum Rarely will you see an aggregator state his business model so forthrightly as Michael Wolff, founder of Newser, does today in discussing publishers charging for news: Here at Newser, we're particular eager for the charge walls to go up. You’ll be able to pay to spend more of your time and effort reading the New York Times, or you... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23332 2010-03-19T00:52:19Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Ryan Chittum Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik pulls a non-Repo 105 angle out of the Valukas Report on Lehman Brothers' collapse: Its move into high-risk lending and the trampling of its own internal controls in the High Bubble years (emphasis mine): Lehman was not alone on Wall Street in deciding in 2006 to shift out of its old business model... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23331 2010-03-18T21:07:45Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Ryan Chittum Will Judge William Pauley III now join Judge Jed Rakoff as one of the few heroes of the crisis? The Wall Street Journal makes an excellent catch today on a Pauley ruling that slapped down a chummy settlement between the SEC and Wall Street dismantling the separation of analysts from investment bankers imposed after the scandals of the previous... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23330 2010-03-18T19:10:18Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Clint Hendler This week C-SPAN launched a full searchable online video library, dating to twenty-three years ago. But let’s go a bit further back, to the earliest days of television broadcast, when the real worry was content dissemination, not preservation. Clunky kineoscopes—essentially film cameras trained on in-house televisions monitors—allowed some moments to be recorded for prosperity,... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23329 2010-03-18T19:09:17Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Holly Yeager tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23328 2010-03-18T17:43:57Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

Matt Labash’s meetings with remarkable men

By Toby Warner Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: And Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys | By Matt Labash | Simon & Schuster | 336 pages, $25.99 Matt Labash has a nose for sniffing out the strange and the strangely compelling American characters, particularly those knee-deep in the tragicomic spectacle of our national politics. Fly Fishing with Darth... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23327 2010-03-18T15:15:04Z 2010-03-19T17:59:06Z

The paper quoted anonymous sources on a Lehman whistleblower but offered no chance for a response

By Ryan Chittum There are some real journalistic lapses in a New York Times column Tuesday that quoted anonymous sources about a Lehman Brothers whistleblower who tried to warn about the failing bank’s questionable accounting maneuvers, including one known as Repo 105. The problematic passage is here (emphasis mine): Lehman’s shell game didn’t come to light until June 2008, when a lower-level... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23177 2010-03-18T13:00:00Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

When two patrons of aggressive journalism became its targets, they cried foul. They have a point.

By Jeff Horwitz In March 2008, Herb and Marion Sandler sat down with Joe Nocera of The New York Times to explain the creation of ProPublica, an investigative journalism startup launched with $10 million of their money and the promise of more. Journalists weren’t doing enough investigative work that mattered, they felt; work with moral force. The Sandlers are... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23326 2010-03-17T23:55:13Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Ryan Chittum Francine McKenna of Re: The Auditors weighs in on the Chittum/Carney fracas over Lehman prosecutions. She's on the side of the just here. Repo 105 is not off-balance sheet accounting but good old-fashioned “round-trip” transaction shenanigans. This was garden variety accounting manipulation by the highest levels of the corporation, accomplished with the acquiescence of the impotent... tag:www.cjr.org,2010://4.23325 2010-03-17T22:28:44Z 2010-03-19T17:45:59Z

By Ryan Chittum