Author Archive

Articles by Dean Starkman | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   The Journal’s Citi Scoop—Don’t Bet Against It

   February 3, 2009 01:57 PM

   The WSJ's David Enrich and colleagues Matthew Futterman and Damian Paletta uncork another valuable scoop from deep inside Citigroup's boardroom this morning, this time on the fact that the subprime leader is considering backing out of its misbegotten... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   Madoff-ed in Ventura County

   February 2, 2009 10:58 AM

   Audit Financial Journalism Ethics Quiz: Advanced Placement Final. 1. A newspaper that accurately quotes someone saying something that is almost certainly complete b.s. about a third party has: A. Done its job. B. Done a bad thing. C. Earned... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   Ken Lewis in Black and White

   January 26, 2009 04:06 PM

   I don't know how Ken Lewis the man is holding up under the pressure, but I can tell you his Wall Street Journal stipple portrait is not faring well. Shades of happy/sad dot-drawings of Vikram Pandit and Hank Paulson... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Portfolio’s Trivial Pursuit

   January 26, 2009 10:28 AM

   I am still not understanding a certain strain of business-press culture that seems inclined to run interference for investment banks rather than investigate them. This would not be my reflex in the aftermath of a multi-trillion-dollar meltdown, but then I... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   Vindication for the Journal

   January 22, 2009 09:15 AM

   With the dispatching of Sir Win Bischoff from the chairmanship of Citigroup, following the dismantling of its financial supermarket model earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal proved right as rain on two scoops it ran... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   Unsettling News From Liberty Street

   January 21, 2009 12:25 PM

   The WSJ reports: The Wall Street Journal has received more than a dozen envelopes containing an unknown white powder, and New York City police and hazardous materials crews are investigating the matter, a spokesman said. The mail was... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Fortune’s Forgiving Instincts

   January 16, 2009 08:49 AM

   A Fortune piece this week shows how editorial tastes can differ, to say the least. When it chooses to explore the extent to which the credit crisis will produce criminal prosecutions, the business magazine looks for reasons why it... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   “What Is Financial Journalism For?”

   January 13, 2009 10:39 AM

   "The current crisis in global banking, markets and economies has reminded us all of the importance of financial and business journalism. It has also raised a set of profound questions as to the quality of that form of reporting. Why... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Finally, Somebody Says It

   January 9, 2009 09:21 AM

   Economist, author and Audit pal Jeff Madrick has a piece on the Daily Beast that I've been hoping someone would write: How the Entire Economics Profession Failed Not a bad topic, right? Here's a partial list of misguided... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    A Bit of Data to Back Our Thesis

    January 9, 2009 07:57 AM

    Survey says: Maybe The Audit isn't the only one to wonder whether the business press has some thinking to do in the wake of the implosion of its central beat. From Huffington Post: ... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Bloomberg Tears the TARP

    January 9, 2009 07:05 AM

    Bloomberg News continues to show the way on Treasury Department coverage this morning with a hard-hitting piece that shows what a poor deal taxpayers got on their investments under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Bloomberg reports that... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Deep Journal Resources On Display in India

    January 8, 2009 11:45 AM

    The upside of the WSJ’s evolving journalism model is on display in a well-executed account this morning of the scandal at the Indian technology company, Satyam Computer Services Ltd., which disclosed it faked its financial results, including a $1... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    Eisinger On Regulators

    January 8, 2009 08:35 AM

    We were big fans of Portfolio’s Jesse Eisinger even before our Audit interview with him last month (a must-read for biz journos and their readers, in our view). Today, he gets an Audit hat tip for his... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Too Easy on TARP

    January 8, 2009 06:16 AM

    A word about a story in yesterday’s WSJ, which calculates that the Treasury Department has earned $8 billion, or 4 percent, on its $200 billion investment in the first three months of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    In the Crisis, the Journal Falls Short

    December 24, 2008 10:15 AM

    "...The last great newsman. He may be the greatest newspaper man of all time"—Michael Wolff, author of The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch, on Murdoch, in an interview with Marketwatch, December... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Bloomberg Rakes Muck

    December 1, 2008 10:10 AM

    Bloomberg continues to turn in business journalism at its muckraking best, now with this superb/nauseating story of the hosing of the policyholders of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. for the benefit of chief executive, William “Jerry” Jurgensen. The piece, by... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Access Uber Alles

    November 19, 2008 03:15 PM

    If business journalism can be said to have structural problems—and I think it does—the biggest one, in my view, its Achilles heel, would be the access problem. It’s hard to write about business without access to sources, and it is... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Fox Business Is Next to File a FOIA

    November 13, 2008 06:08 PM

    Fox Business News appears to get the bailout transparency picture. The News Corp. business news cable network, home of beautiful people with flowing hair, says it’s filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking which banks are benefiting... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    About “Joining” That Bloomberg Suit…

    November 13, 2008 05:48 PM

    The other day I urged other news organizations to "join" the Bloomberg suit in federal court seeking bailout records under the Freedom of Information Act. Turns out, a legal eagle tells me, it would legally awkward and not altogether... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    A Letter from Goldman Sachs

    November 13, 2008 10:38 AM

    Recently, I've written posts denouncing the secrecy surrounding the government bailout of American International Group—secrecy that. among other things, has led news organizations to publish wildly different accounts of the degree to which, if at all, the bailout benefited... Continue reading

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