Author Archive
Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author
Opening Bell: GM’s Gas-Guzzler Blues
Zero percent financing rides again; 100 percent financing rides again; Google News is overrated; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 24, 2008 at 06:40 AM
General Motors continued its struggles, going back to its same old bag of tricks for another round of zero percent... More
Opening Bell: At Least It Wasn’t a Bridge Tournament
SEC’s Cox sunned while Wall Street burned; Big bank layoffs; Saudis pump more, Nigerians less; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 23, 2008 at 07:49 AM
The Wall Street Journal takes a withering A1 look at the performance of Securities and Exchange Commission chairman during the... More
Opening Bell: Perp Walk
Plus, “Operation Malicious Mortgage”; Swiss cheats; an RV chase scene, etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 20, 2008 at 06:42 AM
The Bear Stearns Two got their perp walk yesterday after a federal grand jury indicted them on criminal fraud charges,... More
Opening Bell: GAO Smacks Down Air Force
Says it improperly awarded major contract; bad news at FedEx; Pfizer sticks it to us on Lipitor; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 19, 2008 at 08:10 AM
The Government Accountability Office handed Boeing a huge win, finding that the Air Force improperly awarded a $35 billion contract... More
Opening Bell: What’s Goldman’s Secret?
Firm weathering credit storm; stagflation alert; tougher toy regs; lenders screw poor students; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 18, 2008 at 07:49 AM
Goldman Sachs continued to navigate the credit crisis better than any of its peers. It reported just an 11 percent... More
Opening Bell: Fed Says Markets Too Optimistic
August rate hike unlikely; more evidence that KBR ripped us off in Iraq; rethinking privatization; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 17, 2008 at 07:46 AM
The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times both go page one with apparent leaks from the Federal Reserve that... More
Opening Bell: Crimes at Bear Stearns
Feds ready indictments; the toll of write-downs; AIG to sell some operations?; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 16, 2008 at 07:14 AM
Federal prosecutors are preparing to indict two Bear Stearns executives who ran hedge funds there that collapsed last summer in... More
Opening Bell: Ax Falls At Lehman
Prez and CFO demoted, CEO may be next; KeyCorp cuts dividend; Zell loses publisher; more trouble for AIG; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 13, 2008 at 08:00 AM
Heads rolled at Lehman Brothers as the Wall Street bank took action to restore its tattered credibility after a brutal... More
Opening Bell: Are Your Chemicals Safe?
New Euro regs push U.S; will the Belgians brew Bud?; fugitive CEO living large in Namibia; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 12, 2008 at 07:29 AM
The Washington Post on A1 writes that a tough new European law regulating the chemical industry is affecting the way... More
Opening Bell: Bernanke Talks Tough on Inflation
Says developing countries can do more; Libor reform lite; Sam Israel’s suicide solution; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 11, 2008 at 07:58 AM
Inflation is the topic du jour at The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Times this morning. The... More
Opening Bell: Lehman’s Big Loss
Second-quarter hit a sign o’ the times; corporate ‘golden coffins’; a dark side of free trade; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 10, 2008 at 07:42 AM
Lehman Brothers troubles deepened as it projected it would lose $2.8 billion in the second quarter—far more than already dour... More
Opening Bell: New Fronts in the Credit Crunch
FT and WSJ make predictions; gas prices crushing rural poor; about that AOL whistleblower; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 9, 2008 at 07:37 AM
The Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal pull out their crystal balls to predict what the credit crunch will... More
Opening Bell: The Incredible Shrinking Tribune
Zell slashes pages, people; foreclosures gone wild; UBS ready to sing; AIG faces criminal investigation; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 6, 2008 at 07:57 AM
The Tribune Company is slashing its papers’ newshole and employees in a bid to stay afloat under its staggering debt.... More
Opening Bell: Bond Insurers Headed South
Moody’s set to downgrade MBIA, Ambac; kinder, gentler Wal-Mart; bizarre doings at the FCC; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 5, 2008 at 07:21 AM
Prospects of another downturn in the credit crisis continued to increase, this time on an old standby: a credit-ratings firm... More
Opening Bell: Will Americans Drop the SUV?
Carmakers think so; GM may unload Hummer; WaPo’s hyperlocal Web site experiment bombs; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 4, 2008 at 07:26 AM
(Sub-headline corrected on 6/8/08) The nation’s car market continued to suffer from high gas prices, with sales tumbling 11 percent... More
Opening Bell: Ken Thompson Kicked To Curb
Wachovia says, No mas!; Lehman loss is coming; where are they now: Dick Grasso; Google angers big advertisers; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 3, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Wachovia dumped its CEO Ken Thompson after a series of bad moves over the last few years culminated in a... More
Opening Bell: Credit Crunch Hits Poor Students
Want a loan for community college? Good luck; foreclosures are rolling; NYT Company’s fat dividend; etc.
By Ryan Chittum Jun 2, 2008 at 07:39 AM
The New York Times says the credit crunch is hitting students at two-year colleges and “other less competitive institutions” as... More
Opening Bell: Oil Slicks
As prices soar, U.S. looks for scapegoats; UBS ready to roll over; Jimmy Cayne, pariah; Rachael Ray, jihadi; etc.
By Ryan Chittum May 30, 2008 at 07:54 AM
The U.S. said it is investigating whether soaring oil prices are being unfairly manipulated, the papers report. The Wall Street... More
Opening Bell: Lying About Libor
Journal calls out banks on distortion; free wireless for all?; the back story of $2 a share for Bear; etc.
By Ryan Chittum May 29, 2008 at 07:30 AM
The Wall Street Journal uses an interesting bit of enterprise reporting to suggest on A1 which banks are lying about... More
Opening Bell: About That Loan…
Investors want lenders to take back loans; home sales up but also down; choking the brokers, etc.
By Ryan Chittum May 28, 2008 at 07:27 AM
The Wall Street Journal reports that a growing number of investors, including big companies, are trying to force companies that... More
#Realtalk: This isn’t another ‘golden age’ for print - But it is one for media
Social media in smaller markets - How three social media managers deal with smaller markets and more local coverage.
A rally for laid-off Sun-Times photogs - A protest Thursday morning drew about 150 picketers to the newspaper’s headquarters
Reporting, or illegal hacking - Scripps reporters are accused of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Exchange Watch: California Dreaming - Low healthcare premiums on the West Coast were trumpeted as a big, good-news Obamacare story. But: “Compared to what?”
The disappearance of ‘Sports of the Times’
We’re the Uber of organ transplants
“Millennials need organ transplants that fit easily into their always-connected lifestyles”
‘What part of “Politico” do you not understand?’
A conversation about the dark art of driving the conversation
Julian Assange’s asylum stalemate no nearer resolution one year on
The Ecuadorean embassy’s celebrity refugee is used to living in what Assange likens to a space station as he battles extradition
CJR’s panel discussion on coverage of gay marriage
On the eve of two related SCOTUS decisions, how should journalists be covering the issue?
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.
