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Articles by David Cay Johnston | Email the Author
At what cost?
A New York Times report on presidential helicopters offers lessons for covering government contractors
By David Cay Johnston Jul 30, 2013 at 02:50 PM
Competition for government contracts tends to drive down prices for taxpayers. But when bidding requirements are narrowly-crafted, as the New... More
Tax overhaul: big numbers, hidden stories
Multinationals have ways to avoid taxes not available to domestic companies, and momentum is building in both parties to fix a flawed system. A few journalists are taking note.
By David Cay Johnston Jul 25, 2013 at 11:12 AM
How big corporations pay--or don't pay--their taxes isn't a subject that gets a lot of quality explanatory coverage, though... More
A laurel to Time’s ‘Battleland’ blog
Winslow Wheeler’s posts show how the Pentagon uses its own inflation adjuster to make the case for more spending
By David Cay Johnston Jul 17, 2013 at 02:50 PM
The growth in the Pentagon budget over time is even greater than you think--and the scale of the increase... More
WSJ minimizes the latest IRS news
A solid reporter’s story gives curiously short shrift to fresh facts. Meanwhile, what was the IG directed to find?
By David Cay Johnston Jun 26, 2013 at 04:42 PM
When the latest revelations in the IRS political targeting controversy--the fact that nonprofit applications from groups whose names suggested they... More
Sequester update: contractors’ edition
Government contracting is under-reported terrain—and story-rich, for reporters who know where to look
By David Cay Johnston Jun 25, 2013 at 11:00 AM
Because of the budget sequester, food banks cut some Meals on Wheels, day care and Head Start workers were laid... More
Is BofA mining profits from mortgage misery?
A Laurel to The Palm Beach Post
By David Cay Johnston Jun 21, 2013 at 02:57 PM
Kimberly Miller of The Palm Beach Post broke an important story about how the Bank of America allegedly rewarded... More
A second look at the sequester
And it isn’t pretty. A Laurel to The Associated Press
By David Cay Johnston Jun 18, 2013 at 03:02 PM
The federal budget sequester is back in the news. Three months after these across-the-board budget cuts began--some $85 billion... More
The undercovered dark cloud in the shrinking-deficit story
Flurry of articles was welcome, but some cautionary notes deserved greater play
By David Cay Johnston May 30, 2013 at 03:08 PM
The federal budget deficit has been shrinking like a wool sweater in a clothes dryer, but that fact seems mostly... More
The other IRS scandal
Required context for a controversy
By David Cay Johnston May 15, 2013 at 06:52 AM
The burgeoning "scandal" over how the IRS chose for review 75 applicants for tax-exempt status puts on full display an... More
The IRS budget and federal revenues:
Who will connect the dots?
The sequester strikes again
By David Cay Johnston May 9, 2013 at 11:00 AM
We've pointed out before that major news organizations are failing to connect the tax dots--between the sequester-caused cuts to the... More
Honey, I shrank the IRS
The administration wants more money for tax-law enforcement. Let’s ask why
By David Cay Johnston Apr 30, 2013 at 02:52 PM
Last week, we pointed to a piece of news that we have yet to read or hear from most... More
The big three miss a tax story
The IRS is furloughing workers. For a lot of reasons, that’s news
By David Cay Johnston Apr 23, 2013 at 02:51 PM
Okay, it was a big news week. There was the tragedy in Boston. In West, TX, too. And yes, there... More
Smart, straightforward sequester stories
A HuffPost survey and a close Wonkblog look at cancer treatment stand out
By David Cay Johnston Apr 5, 2013 at 05:09 PM
Covering the effect of the across-the-board federal spending cuts does not have to be expensive, and it does not have... More
Cruelest month for sequester-related cuts?
Layoffs and furloughs are going into effect—coverage needs to keep up
By David Cay Johnston Apr 1, 2013 at 03:20 PM
April Fool's Day is an important date for reporting on the meat ax cuts to federal spending resulting from the... More
Boehner’s overlooked acknowledgment
The Speaker—and Paul Ryan—say we don’t have an immediate debt crisis. Isn’t that news?
By David Cay Johnston Mar 20, 2013 at 02:50 PM
Over the past weekend, there was actually some news made on the Sunday morning talk shows for a change. Two... More
A hat-tip to Investor’s Business Daily
A sharp blog post underscores the radical vision behind the Ryan budget
By David Cay Johnston Mar 15, 2013 at 02:50 PM
Yesterday, I praised The Washington Post's Wonkblog for its coverage of Rep. Paul Ryan's latest budget proposal. But revealing insights... More
Asking the wrong question about Dell
A WSJ columnist misses the point on the CEO-led buyout
By David Cay Johnston Mar 14, 2013 at 04:46 PM
Holman Jenkins' column in The Wall Street Journal on the proposed management buyout of Dell shareholders is an excellent example... More
On Ryan budget plan, Wonkblog shines
WashPost’s crew stands above a generally middling performance by the press
By David Cay Johnston Mar 14, 2013 at 11:24 AM
On Tuesday, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, unveiled his umpteenth budget plan of the last... More
Time to leave budget biases behind
Deficits are falling and government jobs are disappearing. Is it really so obvious we have a spending problem?
By David Cay Johnston Feb 28, 2013 at 03:00 PM
With the automatic federal spending cuts known as sequestration set to take effect Friday--and plenty of other budget wars looming... More
People aren’t too worried about the sequester. Is the media to blame?
Coverage is too often dull or absent, but NYT piece on air travel is a standout
By David Cay Johnston Feb 22, 2013 at 12:14 PM
Americans are not especially worried about the mandatory federal spending cuts set to begin March 1, widely cited polling by... More
Woman’s work - The twisted reality of an Italian freelancer in Syria
Sourcing Trayvon Martin ‘photos’ from stormfront - Not a good idea, Business Insider
Elizabeth Warren, the antidote to CNBC - The senator schools the talking heads on bank regulation
Art Laffer + PR blitz = press failure - The media types up the retail lobby’s propaganda
Reuters’s global warming about-face - A survey shows the newswire ran 50 percent fewer stories on climate change after hiring a “skeptic”
Barack Obama: ‘those old times aren’t coming back’
“It used to be there were local newspapers everywhere. If you wanted to be a journalist, you could really make a good living working for your hometown paper”
The Guardian’s editor opens up on Reddit
Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, answered questions in an Ask Me Anything
The (almost) lost speech of Justice Anthony Kennedy
How his insightful remarks about the Constitution inadvertently make the case for a Supreme Court “media pool”
Fox News sues TVEyes for copyright infringement
Says subscription service sells access to its content without permission nor compensation
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
ACEsTooHigh.com – Reporting on the science, education, and policy surrounding childhood trauma
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
