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Articles by Dean Starkman | Email the Author
The WSJ Story is Fine, But…
What’s missing from coverage of the insurance “industry”
By Dean Starkman Jun 13, 2007 at 11:41 AM
The WSJ did a story last week on the explosive growth of state-owned insurers of last resort. This is a... More
Samuelson says there’s nothing to be done
Warns to avoid “class warfare”
By Dean Starkman Jun 7, 2007 at 12:27 PM
The Washington Post's Robert Samuelson today weighs in with an informed column on cultural changes affecting income inequality. His conclusion:... More
Loss of Wartzman column reveals LAT’s biz coverage priorities
The Reader Speaks
By Dean Starkman Jun 6, 2007 at 04:11 PM
One of The Audit's numerous sources in the business press passes along the following letter by Peter Dreier, a politics... More
How to Kill a Story
Murdoch would kill the Journal’s journalism
By Dean Starkman Jun 5, 2007 at 10:31 AM
How do you kill a story? It must be hard, right? All reporters know the truth: any monkey can do... More
Great story; a concern and a thought
The Bancrofts’ lawyer is clearly conflicted; spell out where the CEO stands
By Dean Starkman Jun 4, 2007 at 10:32 AM
Business-press readers and family therapy buffs alike will get a kick out The Wall Street Journal's Saturday story on discussions... More
Financial Times Bears Down
The British Peach combines sophistication and street smarts in a nice Page One piece.
By Dean Starkman Jun 1, 2007 at 11:37 AM
The Audit can't resist the two-column, paper-leading story (badly underplayed on the Web) by Saskia Scholtes, who got hold of... More
DJ’s unsuitable suitors
Bancrofts in a tight spot
By Dean Starkman Jun 1, 2007 at 10:13 AM
The news that Dow Jones & Co.'s controlling Bancroft family will consider selling the company, including to Rupert Murdoch's News... More
A word about leadership
And one reason Dow Jones lost the war
By Dean Starkman May 31, 2007 at 01:19 PM
Warren H. Phillips, a former longtime CEO of Dow Jones & Co., wrote a letter to the New York Times's... More
Of Lepers and Lou Dobbs
Dobbs has a leprosy problem
By Dean Starkman May 30, 2007 at 10:30 AM
60 Minutes couldn't do it. Neither could NPR. Well, hats off to The Times for running Dobbs to ground on... More
FT on DJ
Don’t do us any favors
By Dean Starkman May 23, 2007 at 11:45 AM
We suspect the Financial Times has an advantage covering the Bancrofts--maybe everyone went to the same schools, or something--but... More
A Good One on Drug Trials
Big Pharma
By Dean Starkman May 23, 2007 at 11:20 AM
Barry Meier, one The Audit's favorites, has an excellent piece on today's New York Times business cover about a debate... More
The Tragedy of Peter Kann
A devoted son of Dow Jones brings down the company.
By Dean Starkman May 21, 2007 at 07:04 AM
We believe facts are facts and that they are ascertainable through honest, open-minded and diligent reporting. We thus believe that... More
What’s Good For the Bancrofts Is Bad for the Journal
The Wall Street Journal’s parent has been paying outsized cash dividends, to the primary benefit of the controlling Bancroft family, instead of reinvesting to keep the company independent of Murdoch and other predators.
By Dean Starkman May 10, 2007 at 02:44 PM
“Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson has announced an ambitious pilot program to radically reshape the welfare system in his state. If... More
Steiger Sat On What?!
Rupert Murdoch’s “reassuring” e-mail about a live offer for the Wall Street Journal’s parent creates a journalistic fiasco. Thanks, Rupert. We feel better already.
By Dean Starkman May 8, 2007 at 04:49 PM
Well, we can stop wondering whether The Wall Street Journal would allow Rupert Murdoch to screw up its editorial judgment.... More
The Trouble With Insurance Reporting
The business press accepts insurance industry assumptions that are utterly bogus—and, yes, it matters a lot.
By Dean Starkman May 3, 2007 at 10:10 AM
You know me as The Audit, a mild-mannered, bespectacled, some would say underachieving critic and interpreter of the business press—just... More
The End of Dow Jones
Covering Your Own Downfall
By Dean Starkman May 2, 2007 at 02:39 PM
What must it be like to write your own obituary? What must it be like to read it? Reading the... More
Mergers: They’re What’s for Dinner
For the business press, the more mergers and acquisitions, the better. Too bad most of them don’t work out.
By Dean Starkman Apr 26, 2007 at 02:13 PM
Is it just The Audit, or does anyone else feel that business stories about mergers and acquisitions sound like they... More
Dang, That’s Good
With many moving parts, the WSJ’s options series took serious stones to publish
By Dean Starkman Apr 19, 2007 at 01:43 PM
Sometimes The Audit can only drop its monocle, place the riding crop under its arm, and bring its heels together... More
W.W.T.A.D.
What Would The Audit Do, if given $125 million to reinvent business reporting from scratch? Quelque chose comme Conde Nast Portfolio? Peut-être.
By Dean Starkman Apr 12, 2007 at 01:40 PM
What Would The Audit Do? If somehow The Great One were to raise $125 million for a new magazine and... More
Capitalism At Risk; Needs More From Journal’s Third Front
Money & Investing is Getting Some Help. It needs it.
By Dean Starkman Apr 5, 2007 at 12:10 PM
Um, excuse me; there may have been a misunderstanding. See, when I took the job of running CJR’s The Audit,... More
‘See you on the other side’ - Meet Jessica Lum, a terminally ill 25-year-old who chose to spend what little time she had practicing journalism
#Realtalk: This is the best moment to be in journalism - The old stuff isn’t coming back, but that’s okay
Streams of consciousness - Millennials expect a steady diet of quick-hit, social-media-mediated bits and bytes. What does that mean for journalism?
Sticking with the truth - How ‘balanced’ coverage helped sustain the bogus claim that childhood vaccines can cause autism
An ink-stained stretch - Can Aaron Kushner save the Orange County Register—and the newspaper industry?
What to do if you find a baby bird
Expert advice
Inside Google’s secret lab
We might deplore the practice, but posting pictures of our food online is a way to bring everyone to the table
How the ‘World’s 50 Best’ list changed the way elite restaurants do business
“Every time the restaurant switched up its format, it got plenty of accompanying media coverage that let judges know they needed to return to see what was going on”
CJR's Guide to Online News Startups
Uptown Messenger – Hyperlocal news for a neighborhood in New Orleans
Who Owns What
The Business of Digital Journalism
A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Questions and exercises for journalism students.
