Author Archive
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The Audit
“My Sources Say No”
June 9, 2009 10:51 AMThat's the answer I got when I asked Magic Eight Ball whether our beyond-worst-case financial catastrophe will result in effective financial regulatory reform. You try it. But the answer matched the feeling I'm getting reading the excellent reporting on... Continue reading
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The Audit
Settlement Closes the Book on a Nigerian Tale
June 9, 2009 08:35 AMI, for one, enjoy a good civil trial. You never know what you might learn. The business papers this morning are reporting, however, that Royal Dutch Shell will settle a case accusing it of human rights abuses in Nigeria in... Continue reading
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The Audit
Bloomberg With Nice Details on UBS Tax-Cheating Service
June 8, 2009 06:38 PMA cool story from Bloomberg pries some nice details from the tax-avoidance case that for the last few years has roiled UBS, a bank that hasn't had this much bad press since it settled claims of laundering funds... Continue reading
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The Audit
Guilty Pleasure
June 8, 2009 03:13 PMI know it was last week's cover, but don't let my tardiness cause you to miss Steve Fishman's New York story on Conde Nast and its main duomo, Si Newhouse—lots of dish, beautifully written. Yes, there were some... Continue reading
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The Audit
When Mozilo Met Morgenson
June 8, 2009 10:07 AMBefore we get too far from the fraud charges the Securities and Exchange Commission filed against Angelo Mozilo last week, somebody ought to note journalism's role in all this. It is a mistake to believe that accountability and reform... Continue reading
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The Audit
The Sun, Times Follow the Subprime Muck
June 8, 2009 08:35 AMThe Baltimore Sun and New York Times recently gave some attention to under-reported social and class aspects of the mortgage crisis with stories on an 825-page amended predatory lending complaint filed by the city of Baltimore, including affidavits... Continue reading
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The Audit
Learning Journalism Lessons of the Past
June 5, 2009 10:25 AMThe Times this morning continues strong recent press performance on the busted-and-bailed-out banking industry's Golem-like resilience and continued potency in shaping public policy to its own interests. Today's story explores how the recently signed "Helping Families Save Their... Continue reading
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The Audit
Journal Remains Citi Scoop Central
June 5, 2009 07:48 AMRyan Chittum has now left the undisclosed location in the D.C. area (Langley) where he works to go on vacation. Audit readers are stuck with me for a while. UPDATED 11:40 a.m.: Actually, here's why we appreciate Chittum: While it... Continue reading
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The Audit
The List
May 6, 2009 08:00 AMWelcome to the List, a comprehensive catalog of relevant stories produced by major business-news outlets on the lending industry and Wall Street during the run-up to the mortgage crisis. Click here to download.... Continue reading
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The Audit
No Pulitzers, But Here’s an Audie
April 21, 2009 01:45 PMWe don’t have anything to do with Pulitzers here at the Columbia Journalism Review, other than bask in their reflected glory. In fact, come to think of it, every time I walk by their offices upstairs I hear the sound... Continue reading
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The Audit
Speedy Kills
March 23, 2009 03:58 PMBack in the summer of 2007, when the world was a cartoon version of today and Dow Jones & Co. was just a steaming leg of lamb in News Corp.'s thought balloon, media writers and other philosophers, including The... Continue reading
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The Audit
Listening to Kilgore
March 2, 2009 12:07 PMBarney Kilgore, the inventor of the modern Wall Street Journal and, in important respects, the best of America journalism as we know it, died back in 1967. But he has something to say about journalism today, and we ought to... Continue reading
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The Audit
Ansberry’s Grim Tales of the Non-Retired
February 23, 2009 02:49 PMI suspect I'm not the only one who read this WSJ story about workers in their 70s and 80s scuffling to find work flipping burgers and crowding community job centers to "retrain" and found my natural feelings of sympathy... Continue reading
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The Audit
A Nice Get On Stanford From the Chronicle
February 23, 2009 02:44 PMThis Houston Chronicle story from last week contains an interesting interview with a pair of ex-employees, who describe how their complaints about compliance problems were blown off by supervisors, leading them to bolt with their clients more than... Continue reading
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The Audit
NYT on WSJ
February 23, 2009 08:54 AMThe New York Times does a nice job keeping an eye on its downtown rival this morning, reporting interesting details on why News Corp. investors do not love newspapers as much as Rupert Murdoch does and are especially not... Continue reading
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The Audit
WSJ Widens Lead On Citi
February 23, 2009 07:55 AMThe Journal breaks the news that the erstwhile subprime leader is asking the government for more help with an idea of converting a big chunk of its current $45 billion stake from preferred to common stock: While the... Continue reading
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The Audit
FOIA Score: Fox 1 - Bailout Secrecy 0
February 20, 2009 03:16 PMFox Business News scored an important victory in the WOBS (War On Bailout Secrecy), when a federal judge in Manhattan ordered the Treasury Department to turn over details of its financial bailout of key financial institutions. As the News... Continue reading
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The Audit
Happy Presidents Day
February 16, 2009 07:41 AMRyan Chittum is off touring the Lincoln and Washington monuments in search of answers to the great economic questions of the day. He will be back tomorrow with a discussion of Revolutionary and Civil War-era TARP plans. Continue reading
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The Audit
Eisinger on Wilke
February 13, 2009 03:39 PMMadoff whistleblower Harry Markopolos created a stir in journalism circles last week when he testified that he approached one of The Wall Street Journal's top investigative reporters, John Wilke, with the Madoff story in 2005 but nothing was done.... Continue reading
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The Audit
Attention Is Paid
February 11, 2009 01:25 PMSometimes it’s better just to keep it simple, and in that spirit I give Fortune credit for profiling several unemployed people and illustrating the story on its cover with a photo of a downsized training-firm executive and his wife.... Continue reading
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The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
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The Kicker last updated: Fri 3:00 PM
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
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- Must-reads of the week
- Tom Rosenstiel leaving Pew
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
- TRVL A free iPad travel magazine
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