The Audit

Bloomberg Bird-Dogs Meredith Whitney’s Terrible Call

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 16, 2011 at 03:57 PM

Remember Meredith Whitney's apocalyptic predictions on the municipal-bond market last year? Bloomberg News does. And it makes sure Whitney and... More

Audit Notes: Bloomberg Empire Edition

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 15, 2011 at 06:46 PM

Reuters's Jack Shafer writes that Bloomberg BusinessWeek has become the best magazine in the country, his "primary source of long-form,... More

Hudson on the Corporate Culture of Countrywide

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 15, 2011 at 01:12 PM

The Center for Public Integrity's Michael Hudson continues to turn up whistleblowers and pound on the culture of wrongdoing at... More

Audit Notes: CDS Watch, Murdoch’s Email, Fracking and Quaking

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 14, 2011 at 06:16 PM

The Wall Street Journal has a good look at how European banks have been busy writing hundreds of billions of... More

Reuters Finds AMR’s Cost-Cutting Missed a Biggie

AMR’s discreet $30 million house exposed in a securities filing

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 14, 2011 at 03:31 PM

Back in 2006, BusinessWeek wrote a story about AMR's "penny-pinching," "cost-cutting culture": When it comes to pinching pennies, few full-fare... More

Audit Notes: Nobody’s Guilty In SEC Deals, Swipe Fees, Euromess

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 9, 2011 at 03:09 PM

The New York Times makes a good catch on the disparities in a Justice Department settlement with Wachovia and an... More

A Big Corporate Welfare Story Gets Short Shrift

Reuters’s Johnston and Times Union spotlight news almost everyone else ignores

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 8, 2011 at 12:43 PM

Here's a story that's calling out for more attention and isn't getting it. Reuters's David Cay Johnston wrote last week... More

Sensationalism and Consumerism, Paid For on the News

The Post pulls up a bit short on plugola

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 7, 2011 at 08:19 PM

I like this Washington Post story on how product experts popping up on newscasts are frequently paid by companies to... More

Ad Layout of the Day

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 7, 2011 at 01:44 PM

From the A-section of The Wall Street Journal: More

60 Minutes’ Tough Piece on Crisis Prosecutions

Kroft on the lack thereof

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 6, 2011 at 07:31 PM

A tip of the cap to 60 Minutes for an excellent report Sunday asking about the lack of criminal prosecutions... More

A Super Journal Story on “Death-Debt” Collectors

Bank proxies harassing grieving family members to give money they don’t owe

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 5, 2011 at 04:40 PM

The Wall Street Journal had an outstanding story this weekend on so called death-debt collectors—an industry that makes money by... More

Audit Notes: Reproducibility, Daily Show, Boeing Settlement

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 2, 2011 at 07:55 PM

The Wall Street Journal has a very good page-one story today reporting on how most peer-reviewed medical studies can't be... More

WSJ Gives Minimum Info on Front Group

An astroturf group gets a hit on the minimum wage

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 2, 2011 at 11:49 AM

Here's how The Wall Street Journal framed its report yesterday on several states raising the minimum wage next year: Small... More

Kristof Finds a Banker With Regrets

By Ryan Chittum   Dec 1, 2011 at 10:37 AM

I've praised Bloomberg News a couple of times this week for digging up years-old muck on the financial crisis, so... More

Audit Notes: Wall Street Dissent, Strib Scrooge, Bailouts In Context

By Ryan Chittum   Nov 30, 2011 at 08:03 PM

ProPublica's Jesse Eisinger has an excellent column today on dissent within the financial industry, writing that "Wall Street Is Already... More