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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   Journal Gives “Too Big to Fail” Some Play

   April 22, 2009 09:13 AM

   Applaud The Wall Street Journal for, alone among most papers, reporting on the congressional testimony yesterday on the "too big to fail" problem. The paper gives it good play, too, though its just a short wire story (I'll take... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   About That Pulitzer Shutout

   April 21, 2009 07:21 PM

   There's been lots of buzz today about the Pulitzers giving financial reporting a big fat zero. Audit impresario Dean Starkman wrote about that earlier today and he included a (far-from-exhaustive) list he and I compiled of the best financial... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   WSJ Credit Raters Story Downgraded to Single ‘A”

   April 21, 2009 12:48 PM

   The Journal takes a look today at the credit-ratings firms and their assertion that the First Amendment protects them from lawsuits on their ratings. Moody's, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch say that their catastrophically wrong ratings of mortgage-backed securities... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   WaPo Skittish on Its Own Chrysler Scoop

   April 21, 2009 09:13 AM

   The Washington Post has a nice exclusive today on Chrysler Financial turning down a $750 million government loan because its executives didn't want to abide by pay restrictions. But the paper spends half the story backpedaling on its scoop,... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   New York’s Portrait of Wall Street in Denial

   April 20, 2009 05:51 PM

   New York's fun story about Wall Streeters not Getting It is one of the best yet on the difficulty of some who most benefited from the second Gilded Age to realize that it's come to a close. Gabriel... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   WSJ Calls Out Treasury’s Inflated Loan Numbers

   April 20, 2009 12:38 PM

   The Journal has more bad news on the banks and some top-notch analysis that cuts through the government line on TARP. It reports that lending by the nineteen biggest TARP recipients is down 19 percent since the Treasury implemented... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   NYT: Obama to Invent New Bank Capital

   April 20, 2009 09:05 AM

   The New York Times scoops that the administration has figured out how to give the banks another bailout without having to go to an angry Congress: quasi-nationalization. Obama is considering converting its bank loans into equity. In other words:... Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Cognitive Dissonance of the Week

   April 17, 2009 05:00 PM

   The Syracuse Post-Standard has a fascinating report on one of the leaders of the local "tea-party" protest this week—you know the ones fired up by CNBC's Rick Santelli and Fox News and the like. Joanne Wilder has never protested... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   WSJ: Obama Official Caught Up in Pension-Scandal Inquiry

   April 17, 2009 02:48 PM

   The Journal today goes a good way toward catching up with the Times on the New York pension-fund kickback scandal with a report that Steven Rattner met with one of the key players in the scheme, paid "finders fees,"... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    The Times Falls Short on Banks’ Health

    April 17, 2009 10:40 AM

    The New York Times writes on page one about the signs of recovery in the banking industry, but its story for some reason leaves out some crucial information. There's no question there have been welcome signs of recovery in... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Journal’s Awesome Pang Story Gets Quick Results

    April 17, 2009 08:59 AM

    The Wall Street Journal's epic story on the, um, questionable past of financier Danny Pang is already getting results. The paper reports today that the Justice Department and the SEC have opened inquiries into the matter and that... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Bloomberg: Wells Fargo’s Numbers Don’t Add Up

    April 16, 2009 02:24 PM

    Wondering just how the banks' earnings reports have been so good? Me, too. Already we've seen Goldman Sachs fiddle with its first quarter by dumping more than a billion dollars of losses in its "orphan month" of December, which... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    New ProPublica Site Birddogs the Bailouts

    April 16, 2009 09:13 AM

    The investigative outlet ProPublica has created a new site devoted to tracking the government bailouts. Called "Eye on the Bailout," the site is an attempt to have as much information as possible on the topic in one place. The... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    A WSJ Tour de Force

    April 15, 2009 07:33 PM

    The Wall Street Journal drops an incredible story on its page one today. It's one of the best stories I've read in a long time. And it's written by a reporter/editor Audit readers will remember: Mark Maremont, whom... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    WSJ Finds a Renewed Foreclosure Push by Banks

    April 15, 2009 11:19 AM

    The Journal has a good story today reporting that some big banks are ramping up their foreclosure machines again after a temporary pause. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all say... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    WaPo: Economy’s Decline Slowing, But Don’t Say That

    April 15, 2009 09:06 AM

    This page-one Washington Post's story doesn't make much sense to me. Its premise is that Obama and Bernanke are getting ahead of the game by saying that the worst of the economic freefall may be over. Or as... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    Times: Cuomo Is Eyeing Carlyle Group

    April 14, 2009 05:44 PM

    The Times got a nice scoop today, reporting that the white-shoe private-equity firm Carlyle Group is under investigation by New York Attorney General Cuomo for its role in a scandal at the state's pension fund. Last month, grand jury... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    The Press, NYT’s Norris Excepted, Gives Goldman a Pass

    April 14, 2009 12:35 PM

    News of Goldman Sachs's good first quarter is all over the business press today, as it should be. But the turn in its fortunes was due in no small part to an accounting quirk: The company switched its earnings calendar... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    FT Stays Ahead on Merrill Bonuses

    April 14, 2009 08:55 AM

    The Financial Times continues to get scoops in the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America bonus scandal. Today it reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is "reviewing" whether BofA illegally misled shareholders by not telling them about the$3.6 billion in... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Only 3 Percent of Newspaper Reading Done Online?

    April 13, 2009 06:43 PM

    Martin Langeveld has been doing some interesting stuff over at Nieman Journalism Lab on newspaper numbers. I disagreed with parts of an analysis of his the other day, but it was still well worth trying. Today, he does <a... Continue reading

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