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Articles by Ryan Chittum | Email the Author

 

1. The Audit

   “The Word Was Polo; The Man, Ralph Lauren”

   July 26, 2010 11:43 AM

   One of the dirty little secrets of the newspaper business is that you should almost never bother to read a special section. When I was at The Wall Street Journal, "tab stories" were a sort of joke. The only reason... Continue reading

2. The Audit

   It’s Still Unclear Why Cassano Got Off the Hook

   July 23, 2010 06:16 PM

   The Wall Street Journal's leder this morning explores why the government dropped its criminal fraud investigation of AIG's Joseph Cassano, the guy who let banks create all those toxic securities by taking on so much of their risk via... Continue reading

3. The Audit

   Audit Notes: Pretty-Penny Paywall, Booty, Fair Trade

   July 22, 2010 10:21 PM

   The New York Times says it is spending more than $7 million every three months to develop its paywall. (CEO Janet) Robinson said the company has moved " into active development mode, building systems and infrastructure needed to support... Continue reading

4. The Audit

   Bright Spots For the Times in Digital Revenue

   July 22, 2010 07:29 PM

   The New York Times reported (relatively) good second-quarter numbers today—especially in digital ads, up 20 percent in its division—and Jeff Bercovici says that should give the paper pause about its plans to implement a paywall next year. Yet,... Continue reading

5. The Audit

   WSJ’s Good Coverage of Warren and the CFPB

   July 22, 2010 02:22 PM

   The Wall Street Journal's leder today on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows the paper in fine form. If you want a well-reported explainer on what the CFPB is empowered to do and a narrative on how it came... Continue reading

6. The Audit

   CNBC’s Dennis Kneale Goes Native

   July 21, 2010 09:19 PM

   We may have ourselves a new poster boy of Access Journalism. Say hello to CNBC's Dennis Kneale, protector of the powerful, proponent of journalistic capture. He unloads this stunner after a feud with Felix Salmon of Reuters... Continue reading

7. The Audit

   Audit Notes: Fannie/Freddie Already, Obama on Finreg, WaMu’s Valukas?

   July 21, 2010 08:20 PM

   Next time you hear someone spouting the line that Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Community Reinvestment Act were the main culprits in the housing bubble, refer them to this chart, which Barry Ritholtz points out. Continue reading

8. The Audit

   Surprise! Ratings Firms Nailed By Financial Reform

   July 21, 2010 09:55 AM

   The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that part of the bond market has shut down because credit raters like Moody's have told issuers they can't quote their ratings. Why? Because the financial-reform bill (law in a couple of... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Audit Notes: Not-So-Sharp Claws, Eighty Cents, A+!

   July 20, 2010 08:10 PM

   Charlie Gasparino scoops that pay czar Ken Feinberg is going to try to claw back some 2008 banker bonuses later this week. Only there's a big problem with that: Feinberg... cannot force banks to repay the money However, as... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    Megabanks on Steroids

    July 20, 2010 10:58 AM

    The Wall Street Journal has an excellent page-one story this morning on how giant banks are getting bigger and throttling competition. This is good stuff: The financial-overhaul bill that will be signed into law by President Barack Obama on... Continue reading

11. The Audit

    Audit Notes: GPOs, Broadcom Injustice, The Upside of BP

    July 19, 2010 09:17 PM

    Mariah Blake has a must-read investigation in The Washington Monthly on the for-profit group purchasing organizations that dominate the medical supplies business and how they stymie small companies with inventions that could save lives and cut costs. She tells... Continue reading

12. The Audit

    Bloomberg’s Obama Bull

    July 19, 2010 07:48 PM

    Bloomberg's back on the "Obama's Bull Market" stuff. Remember when it was "Obama's Bear Market"—six weeks into his presidency, and then called it an "Obama Bull Market" six months later? It's got the usual soothsayers claiming to... Continue reading

13. The Audit

    FT: Wall Street Opacity Survives

    July 19, 2010 04:21 PM

    The Financial Times looks at how complexity and opacity plays into Wall Street's hands at the potential expense of its clients. We're led to believe up high that we'll learn about why this is bad through the example Peloton... Continue reading

14. The Audit

    Audit Notes: Kanjorski?, Top 1 Percent, Geithner vs. Warren

    July 16, 2010 06:34 PM

    Simon Johnson has been beating the drum a bit on something called the Kanjorksi Amendment that made its way into the final bill. That would enable a super-majority of the new financial-regulatory council to split up a bank if... Continue reading

15. The Audit

    The Goldman Settlement Coverage is Mostly On-Target

    July 16, 2010 09:39 AM

    The press does a pretty good job of handling the SEC's settlement with Goldman Sachs (an Audit funder). It seems everybody has a good second paragraph. What's with that? The first graph is the news. The second graph is... Continue reading

16. The Audit

    Audit Notes: The SEC Lets Goldman Off Easy

    July 15, 2010 07:25 PM

    So Goldman Sachs (an Audit funder) gets off the hook with a $550 million fine and with no apology. But $550 million is a lot of money, you say. Well, maybe. That depends on the context. For that we... Continue reading

17. The Audit

    WSJ on the Lookout for Poor Lending

    July 15, 2010 02:10 PM

    The Wall Street Journal has its ear to the ground for signs of bubble-era lending, and it's come up with a few. There's the woman who got a Capital One solicitation even though the company sued her four years... Continue reading

18. The Audit

    Audit Notes: Bloomberg Misses, Indiviglio Hits, Shadow Banking

    July 14, 2010 07:23 PM

    Bloomberg puts a strangely positive spin on a Goldman Sachs story, and Felix Salmon calls them out on it. Here's Bloomberg's lede: Goldman Sachs Group Inc., accused by the U.S. government of defrauding investors, is generating better returns... Continue reading

19. The Audit

    WSJ Tries to Tie Farmers to Bank Reform, Fails

    July 14, 2010 06:30 PM

    The Wall Street Journal blows it big time with a hyped-up page-one story on how the financial-reform bill would affect farmers. It contains a lot of what's wrong with how Rupert Murdoch has changed the Journal in the last... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Anatomy of a Zombie Lie

    July 13, 2010 07:14 PM

    As I wrote last week, bloggers have repeatedly pumped the story that the AP charges us to quote its stories. Problem is, that story's just false and has been so since the meme first arose two years ago. So... Continue reading

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