The Press Bats Down Obama’s Chamber Smears

Almost certainly a bogus scandal on foreign money in the campaign

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 12, 2010 at 05:50 AM

It looks like the Democrats and Obama are trying to ape part of the campaign playbook perfected by Republicans: the... More

Audit Notes: U6 Hits 17.1 Percent, Facebook, “Inside Job”

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 8, 2010 at 07:49 PM

Unemployment seems bad enough when you look at the headlines talking about 9.6 percent. But here's a headline at the... More

The Journal Trails Badly on the Foreclosure Scandal

Beaten by smaller business staffs and a blogger

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 8, 2010 at 03:37 PM

So we've got a nationwide scandal in the still-crippled industry that caused the crisis in the first place—a scandal with... More

The Foreclosure Scandal Begins to Hit Home

The possible ramifications are enormous

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 8, 2010 at 01:36 AM

If you still doubt that the burgeoning foreclosure scandal is going to have nasty consequences for the economy and the... More

A Harsh Verdict on Obama’s BP Spill Response

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 7, 2010 at 01:11 PM

The big papers stuff news today that an Obama-appointed commission on the BP oil spill is pretty scathing on the... More

Audit Notes: Foreclosure Scandal, Manufacturers’ Outlook, News of the World

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 6, 2010 at 06:29 PM

The foreclosure scandal continues to break wide open. Several banks have halted foreclosures as clear evidence of fraud has emerged... More

FT Fronts a Thin Story on Manufacturing Suppliers

A dog-bites-man story posing as a trend piece fails at both

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 6, 2010 at 02:42 PM

Here's one of those thin Financial Times stories that doesn't make much sense. Yesterday it put this story on page... More

The New York Times Unloads on Tribune’s Zell Hell

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 6, 2010 at 11:56 AM

David Carr and The New York Times have a fascinating and sordid story about Sam Zell's tenure as owner of... More

Audit Notes: Clayton Bull, Bloomberg News, Cohan and Consumers

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 5, 2010 at 06:27 PM

Shahien Nasiripour continues to bird dog the Clayton Holdings story, reporting today that, under pressure from the folks on Wall... More

Reuters Investigates the Fed’s Selective Leaks

Guess who gets them?

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 5, 2010 at 11:50 AM

This Reuters investigation of the Federal Reserve deserves a much wider airing than it's gotten. The wire reports that the... More

The Free Trade Backlash

By three to one in a WSJ/NBC News poll, Americans say free trade hurts the country

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 4, 2010 at 07:26 PM

The Wall Street Journal zooms in on a poll result from last week: That far more Americans now oppose "free... More

Life Insurance as Tax Dodge for the Rich

The Wall Street Journal on a “widows and orphans” tax break past its prime

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 4, 2010 at 06:06 PM

The Wall Street Journal is excellent today in a page-one story on how the life-insurance industry has evolved into something... More

Murdoch’s Threat to Democracy

Direct influence via the power of the purse—here and in the UK

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 4, 2010 at 12:49 PM

Politico astutely pointed out the other day that Fox News now employs four of the leading Republican presidential candidates: Sarah... More

The Journal Misleads on McDonald’s and Obamacare

And it channels the wealthy-but-stingy employer’s cries of poverty

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 1, 2010 at 02:23 PM

The Wall Street Journal caused something of a to-do yesterday with its front-page story reporting that McDonald's might drop its... More

The Times Channels the Oil Lobby on Cuba

By Ryan Chittum   Oct 1, 2010 at 10:16 AM

The top story in The New York Times yesterday carried a bit of water for the oil and gas lobby.... More

Audit Notes: The Shark Submerges, Flack Jobs From Hell, Trial Balloons Popped

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 30, 2010 at 08:51 PM

Michael Lewis plays the "Jaws" theme in his BusinessWeek column asking why Wall Street fought tooth and nail for an... More

Crisis Warning Lights Are Blinking Red Again

Europe’s sovereigns worsen again, currency devalutions threaten a downward spiral, and more.

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 30, 2010 at 05:58 PM

Things are getting ugly again in Europe, with multiple nations teetering toward default. Nations are beginning to play beggar-thy-neighbor with... More

Accountability Icelandic Style

Politicians in the dock for the financial crisis

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 30, 2010 at 10:49 AM

What's the difference between Iceland and us? Well, there's the rotten shark meat, the leaving babies outside unattended in freezing... More

Audit Notes: The Damage Done, GOP Economics, Pittman Bests Bernanke

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 29, 2010 at 07:56 PM

Now this is a correction. The Wall Street Journal this morning (emphasis mine): Singer Neil Young was born Nov. 12,... More

This Gold “Record” Keeps Skipping

The Journal and others fail to account for thirty years of inflation

By Ryan Chittum   Sep 29, 2010 at 11:53 AM

The Wall Street Journal goes page one with a misleading story about gold, splashing this headline across four columns atop... More