The Audit

AJC Stirring Up the Anti-Census Crowd with Falsehoods

Bob Barr says—without evidence—the gubmint can force its way into your home when you’re not there

By Ryan Chittum   May 28, 2010 at 10:00 AM

Drudge is linking to an incendiary Atlanta Journal-Constitution blog post by former congressman Bob Barr. Barr claims in his headline... More

Audit Notes: Animal Farm Webified, Murdoch’s Paradox, Reform Hype

By Ryan Chittum   May 27, 2010 at 07:09 PM

Speaking of the Web and hyped headlines, McSweeney's has probably the best satire of the genre yet. Mike Lacher's piece,... More

Bad Redesigns

News sites regress in a bid to declutter their home pages

By Ryan Chittum   May 27, 2010 at 05:49 PM

What's going on with these redesigns? There seems to be a movement afoot to declutter news websites' home pages. Problem... More

The Journal Excels on BP

An investigation shows the company repeatedly cutting corners in the Gulf

By Ryan Chittum   May 27, 2010 at 12:33 PM

The Wall Street Journal unloads a huge, devastating investigation into the BP oil catastrophe this morning, finding that the company... More

Audit Notes: Corporate Welfare for BP, (Financial) Markets First, Facebook

By Ryan Chittum   May 26, 2010 at 07:25 PM

The Los Angeles Times has a terrific story pointing out that Washington larded up the oil companies with tax breaks... More

WSJ Again Pulls Back the Curtains on Window Dressing

By Ryan Chittum   May 26, 2010 at 06:53 PM

The Wall Street Journal continues its excellent work on the Wall Street "window dressing" story, which it broke early last... More

More on Hyped Atlantic Headlines

“Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” was a low point for the magazine

By Ryan Chittum   May 26, 2010 at 05:21 PM

Mollie brings up a great point in comments on my earlier post on sensational, misleading headlines at the Atlantic. She... More

Jobs Bill Jumble

Competing narratives and conflicting theories as Congress delays action

By Holly Yeager   May 26, 2010 at 03:20 PM

The news today is that Democratic leaders in the House delayed a vote on a jobs bill. But good luck... More

The Financial Industry’s Threadbare Astroturf

By Ryan Chittum   May 26, 2010 at 10:37 AM

Mike Konczal reports on a scrambled-together lobbying effort by the banks along with Visa and Mastercard to defeat the interchange-fee... More

Sorry, Porn Didn’t Cause TK Regulatory Failure

A misleading Atlantic headline and a misdirection on what’s wrong with oversight

By Ryan Chittum   May 26, 2010 at 09:53 AM

Here's an example of one of the all-time most-annoying Web journalism tricks. Daniel Indiviglio at The Atlantic's site has this... More

Audit Notes: Blankfein and Barber, Another BP OIl Spill, Box Offices and Onions

By Ryan Chittum   May 25, 2010 at 11:13 PM

Wall Street Journal deputy managing editor Alan Murray has a good question on Twitter for the Financial Times: So the... More

WSJ.com Lacks Link Luster

But there are lots of reasons for that

By Ryan Chittum   May 25, 2010 at 05:43 PM

Jeff Bercovici and Felix Salmon point to a Project for Excellence in Journalism study for a cautionary tale on paywalls... More

Reading Between the Rescission Lines

By Holly Yeager   May 25, 2010 at 02:34 PM

The White House proposal to give presidents new power to cut spending got plenty of media attention. But despite all... More

Small Banks Did Not Perform Worst in This Crisis

It would take 3,800 Georgia bank failures to equal one Bank of America

By Ryan Chittum   May 25, 2010 at 01:23 PM

The Atlantic's Derek Thompson quotes a friend in finance saying: "Small banks did the worst in this crisis," he once... More

Audit D.C. Notes: Crook on Broken Labour Markets, Bartlett Notices That We’re Getting Old, WSJ Notices Fannie and Freddie

By Holly Yeager   May 24, 2010 at 06:32 PM

We’ve been complaining that the long-term unemployment problem isn’t getting enough attention from the business press. But Clive Crook’s latest... More