The Audit

At the WSJ, A Question of Trust

The real issue in the Kagan softball dustup: The paper has lost credibility in the Murdoch era

By Ryan Chittum   May 12, 2010 at 03:45 PM

"As News Corp. has consolidated its control of the paper they have increasingly come to demand enterprise journalism that serves... More

WSJ: Feds Investigating Morgan Stanley CDOs

By Ryan Chittum   May 12, 2010 at 10:53 AM

Morgan Stanley is under criminal investigation for Abacus-like CDO deals, The Wall Street Journal scoops this morning, showing that the... More

Audit Notes: Post’s Silver Medal, HAMPered, “The Iran Edition”

By Ryan Chittum   May 11, 2010 at 05:22 PM

The New York Post reported this weekend that regulators have criminal and civil investigations underway into possible manipulation of the... More

The FT Stands By Its Moody’s Story, As It Should

By Ryan Chittum   May 11, 2010 at 02:53 PM

This morning I noted that a 2008 Financial Times story led to an SEC investigation of credit-ratings firm Moody's. I... More

WSJ Stretches with Black-Swan Theory of the Crash

By Ryan Chittum   May 11, 2010 at 02:20 PM

A tried and true way to draw readers to your blog is to say something provocative in your headline and... More

Bond Charts Should Be As Good As Stock Charts

Right Now They Just Lie There

By Holly Yeager   May 11, 2010 at 01:49 PM

The papers are filled with charts illustrating Monday’s big rebound in the stock market. But what we really need these... More

The FT’s 2008 Moody’s Scoop Makes an Impact

By Ryan Chittum   May 11, 2010 at 11:21 AM

Let us now praise the Financial Times for its investigation of Moody's, which has now, at last, resulted in an... More

Audit Notes: “Populism” (Argh), Bush-Era Regulation, Tom Friedman

By Ryan Chittum   May 10, 2010 at 06:40 PM

Yves Smith has a good post on a longtime pet peeve of The Audit: Misuse of the word "populism." The... More

WaPo Does Well on Payday Lenders Pushing for Protection

By Holly Yeager   May 10, 2010 at 01:40 PM

The Washington Post does a nice job of highlighting just how worried payday lenders and check cashers are about the... More

The HuffPost’s Business Reporting Shows the Site Maturing

By Ryan Chittum   May 10, 2010 at 12:07 PM

Let's get it out of the way up top that I think The Huffington Post is a mess—a schizophrenic, mostly... More

Audit Notes: Facebook Creeps, Apple and Ridicule, CDS Carnage

By Ryan Chittum   May 7, 2010 at 07:14 PM

As Facebook continues to steadily invade its users' privacy, it's been somewhat difficult to convey how exactly this has happened.... More

Good WSJ Probe Shows Oil Regulator’s Capture

By Ryan Chittum   May 7, 2010 at 06:48 PM

The Wall Street Journal has a great investigation on Minerals Management Service, the regulator supposed to oversee oil drilling. The... More

Coverage of TBTF Amendment FAIL Fails

By Ryan Chittum   May 7, 2010 at 04:22 PM

The Senate voted 61-33 yesterday against the so-called SAFE Banking Act, an amendment to the financial-reform bill that would have... More

Warning: Trans-Atlantic Tensions Ahead

By Holly Yeager   May 7, 2010 at 12:14 PM

There’s been a small, but sharp, undercurrent of trans-Atlantic tension in this week’s coverage of the Greek debt crisis. Judging... More

NYT Busts Out the Weasel Words for Stock Crash

By Ryan Chittum   May 7, 2010 at 10:23 AM

What the heck happened in the stock markets yesterday? Well, nobody really knows yet. So what do you do when... More