Author Archive

Articles by Dean Starkman | Email the Author

 

1. Feature

   The reporter who saw it coming

   May 3, 2012 10:05 AM

   Mike Hudson began reporting on the subprime mortgage business in the early 1990s when it was still a marginal, if ethically challenged, business. His work on the “poverty industry” (pawnshops, rent-to-own operators, check-cashing operations) led him to what... Continue reading

2. Feature

   The reporter who saw it coming

   April 22, 2012 03:33 PM

   Mike Hudson began reporting on the subprime mortgage business in the early 1990s when it was still a marginal, if ethically challenged, business. From his street-level perspective, he could see the abuses and asymmetries of the market in... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   The Value of Prizes

   April 16, 2012 09:55 PM

   I watched the Pulitzer announcements for the first time this afternoon, just upstairs in the World Room—and, well, it’s a bit of anti-climax, as a matter of fact. Sig Gissler read the announcements in the lowest-key manner possible... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   What McClure Said: “The Story is the Thing”

   April 3, 2012 11:51 AM

   Editor's note: CJR’s Dean Starkman was invited to give the opening keynote speech at this year’s Narrative Arc Conference, at Boston University. The three-day conference at the end of March gathered some of the best nonfiction writers in... Continue reading

5. Cover Story

   A Narrowed Gaze

   January 9, 2012 06:00 AM

   Steve Lipin didn’t fit the profile of a transformative media figure when he took over the mergers-and-acquisitions beat for The Wall Street Journal in 1995. His look was studious, his manner remarkably affable and low key,... Continue reading

6. Behind the News

   Best of 2011: Dean Starkman

   December 27, 2011 01:33 PM

   Confidence Game: The limited vision of the news gurus: The landmark 8,000-word essay that upended the future-of-news debate. The Hole in FON Theory: In an exchange on "Confidence Game" with future-of-news thinker Clay Shirky, I argue that... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   The Hole In FON Theory

   December 21, 2011 11:00 AM

   I thank Clay Shirky and other posters for their responses to “Confidence Game: the limited vision of the news gurus.” Since Clay and I are going to differ on a few things, I’ll start with... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   It’s About the Stories

   November 10, 2011 12:02 PM

   I thank Emily for her critique of "Confidence Game." Alysia Santo is pulling together other responses, and I’ll get to those later. Emily and I agree on a lot, so I’ll get straight to... Continue reading

9. Essay

   Confidence Game

   November 8, 2011 06:00 AM

   “The question that mass amateurization poses to traditional media is ‘What happens when the costs of reproduction and distribution go away? What happens when there is nothing unique about publishing anymore because users can do it for themselves?’ We are... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Best Business Writing, 2012: Send Us Your Favorites

    September 12, 2011 04:41 PM

    Hey, Internet: A team at the Columbia Journalism Review—yours truly, Dean Starkman, Ryan Chittum, Martha Hamilton, ex-of the WaPo and now of Politifact, and Felix Salmon of Reuters—is putting together a book of the best of the best business writing... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    A Heavy Blow to The Wall Street Journal

    September 7, 2011 06:47 PM

    Anyone who thinks the departure of Alix M. Freedman, the WSJ’s Page One editor, a twenty-seven-year Journal mainstay, and winner of one of the more storied Pulitzers in my old paper’s storied past, is inside-baseball for media types is... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    No, Actually, News of the World Won’t Happen Here

    July 25, 2011 11:11 AM

    In a recent spasm of radio and TV interviews about #hackgate the last couple weeks, everyone wanted to know whether a News of the World scandal could happen here. I mean, we're just as bad, aren't we? After all, Howard... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    The Audit on NPR

    July 19, 2011 06:24 PM

    I'm on "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook on NPR's Boston affiliate, WBUR, talking Murdoch and News Corp., with Sarah Ellison, author of War at the Wall Street Journal, and the FT's John Gapper. Not a... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    The News Corp. Scandal is a Triumph for Investigative Reporting

    July 18, 2011 11:39 AM

    It got pretty lonely.... --Ian Katz, deputy editor of the Guardian on the News of the World Story CJR's top editor, Mike Hoyt, says the global, righteous indignation now consuming News Corp. is a testament... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    Chaos at Dow Jones is the Bancrofts’ Legacy

    July 15, 2011 10:18 PM

    "I want you to do what's best for the company. Don’t you and the boys worry about dividends." —Jane Bancroft, of Dow Jones’s controlling family, giving instructions to a Dow Jones executive after the suicide of her... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    The Mirror’s Dodgy “9/11 Hacking” Story

    July 14, 2011 06:37 PM

    In response to calls from Congress, the FBI has opened an investigation into whether News Corp. journalists hacked the cell phones of 9/11 victims, as they did the phones of crime and terror victims in the U.K.... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Forget Regulating the Press. Enforce the Law.

    July 13, 2011 09:55 AM

    As Reuters has it: "The basic test of a decent police force is that it catches more criminals than it employs." Prime Minister David Cameron, scrambling for his political life, has found the time to call... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    News Corp.: Barometer Rising

    July 11, 2011 05:00 PM

    Ryan Chittum already said Nick Davies and the Guardian have pulled off one of the greatest newspaper investigations of all time. Well, it just got better. Here we see the virtuous cycle of news investigations—one good tip... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    Bad Parent

    July 11, 2011 11:00 AM

    It's been hard to watch The Wall Street Journal, still the global business-news leader, struggling with both hands tied behind its back to cover the incredible scandal now engulfing its parent. The News of the World debacle—a five-alarm business story... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Accountability, News Corp. Style

    July 8, 2011 08:52 AM

    Behold, editors and reporters at The Wall Street Journal, the Times of London, Fox News, and, for that matter, the Sunday Tasmanian, and every other News Corp. journalism property around the world: This is what happens when you do... Continue reading

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