Business Journalism on Prozac: A look at an issue of Fortune finds the magazine painting a picture of the corporate world so rosy it’s almost unrecognizable. While it’s individual pieces may be accurate (and for that matter worthwhile), the whole adds up to something that’s deeply misleading.
The Real Dow. The press almost never reports stock prices in context. It should.
Gensler, Derivatives, and the Causes of the Crisis. A Times story brought up several critical points for coverage of Wall Street and reform.
All the Banks in Georgia. A McClatchy story focused on small-bank failures, using Georgia as an example, but the too-big-to-fail ones are the real problem. The combined assets of the thirty-eight Georgia banks that had gone under in the crisis came to $23.4 billion—1/100 the size of one should-have-failed bank in Charlotte called Bank of America.
Forbes’ Shameful Piece on Obama as the “Other” and Dinesh D’Souza Digs Himself in Deeper. Condemning the worst kind of smear journalism by Dinesh D’Souza and Forbes.
At the WSJ, A Question of Trust. The real issue in the dustup over the paper’s page-one Kagan softball picture: The paper has lost credibility in the Murdoch era.
Blogs Beat the Press on the Lehman Brothers Scandal: As the Repo 105 story fell off the front pages and section fronts of the newspapers, bloggers filled in some of the gaps.
Leeway for Lehman Brothers. Clusterstock’s Carney tortured arguments against prosecuting the failed bank’s executives.
BizWeek Lures Clicks with Bad Photoshop. A quick tour of how slideshows can easily become a journalistic embarrassment.
Business Insider and Financial Press Sensationalism. Henry Blodget & Co. stroke the id of the Internet.
All But Ignoring the Fed’s Call for More Stimulus. Deficit-obsessed newspapers stuffed Bernanke’s plea for near-term spending or tax cuts.
Big Wheel Keep on Turnin’. Hamster for the holidays from the NYT, WSJ, and Politico.
The Press Bats Down Obama’s Chamber Smears. Almost certainly a bogus scandal on foreign money in the campaign.
Sarah Palin, Media Critic. The former veep candidate (and journalism major) misled readers on a Wall Street Journal story with selective quotes.
Ryan Chittum is a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and deputy editor of The Audit, CJR’s business section. If you see notable business journalism, give him a heads-up at rc2538@columbia.edu. Follow him on Twitter at @ryanchittum.