the audit

Monday Links: Pew, Murdoch, and Treasury Lies

October 5, 2009

Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found, unsurprisingly, that media coverage of financial issues and business was overwhelmingly focused on Wall Street, banks, and the government response to the crisis. Just 5 percent looked at the fortunes of workaday Americans. Seventy-five percent of stories came from Washington and New York.

Murdoch’s first salvo in the paid-content war is a dud: The Times of London is forming a “membership club” rather than instituting online subscriptions. The initiative ought to bring in hundreds, maybe thousands, of dollars.

The TARP Special Inspector General found that Treasury lied to the public about the health of big banks last October and may have unfairly distributed TARP funds.

The FT scoops that Goldman Sachs is in line for a billion-dollar payout if CIT goes under. American taxpayers? They’ll lose $2.3 billion even though they gave CIT money five months after Goldman did.

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.