Elizabeth Warren is facing the peculiar experience of being Mr. Smith in Washington. I am a big fan of her position and message, and have come to notice that (not surprisingly) the posture of her interviewer makes a great difference in how well she comes off. Bill Maher pitched a bunch of softballs, and Warren […]
Read more...We asked readers to clue us in to when the media posted stories where the headline spun the underlying report. Remember, many people read only the headline of certain news items, and even if they read the entire article, it might not dispel the impression conveyed by the headline. Sighting of the day, from reader […]
Read more...The Columbia Journalism Review takes apart an interview by Adam Davidson of NPR’s Planet Money, which we linked to earlier this week and caused some consternation among readers who listened to the program. Davidson took a combative stance towards Warren, painted her as out to get the banking industry and out of step with mainstream […]
Read more...The unduly charitable coverage of the stress tests continues. Even though the New York Times does raise a few questions, it still features industry preening and misses some of the important lapses: Industry executives reacted with jubilation, as if they had proved their critics wrong and passed the tests with flying colors. “The results off […]
Read more...I continue to be amazed at the bank cheerleading in the press. Admittedly, article writers are not responsible for headlines, so I do not know who to hold responsible for this New York Times item, “As Stress Tests Are Revealed, Markets Sense a Turning Point.”. How much have bank stocks rallied since March 9? Declaring […]
Read more...History repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. But when it’s your farce, sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the humor. We’ve railed about the stress tests since they were announced, but the chicanery, starting with the March 10 Citi and Bank of America pronouncements that they had had a decent […]
Read more...I am coming to realize there might be method in the seeming madness of changing dates and shifting sneak previews via favored members of the press as to what the stress tests might entail. Tire out the critics, numb the casual followers, and leave the boosters in firm control of share of mind. Let’s face […]
Read more...The clout of the press has decayed enormously over the last 40 years. The fourth estate was feared, resented, and begrudgingly respected in the corridors of power. But rule by beancounters, savvy media spin, and access journalism (journalists who write pointed stories get frozen out) have largely leashed and collared the press. Indeed, a friend […]
Read more...Full disclosure: I am normally a fan of the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett, but her latest piece reveals she has been co-opted by the industry she covers. While there are matters of substance I take issue with (we’ll get to those soon), the whopper is the positioning. How can Tett possibly depict Gordon Gekko as […]
Read more...Too much corn pone personal story, not enough real interview. But I must say, Bernanke is either an astoundingly self contained man or is on the best meds modern science has to offer. Paul Kedrosky thinks this appearance is either wildly bullish or wildly bearish, and is somewhat inclined to the former view. I see […]
Read more...The kabuki continues. The story from the Washington Post on AIG bonuses would appear to represent a modest win for taxpayers: American International Group is doling out tens of million of dollars in bonuses this week to senior employees. While AIG agreed to pay the bonuses months before the government’s rescue of the company began, […]
Read more...Why is it that the Daily Show is the only media outlet calling out CNBC on its, how shall we put it politely, less than stellar moments? I have to confess that Jon Stewart is much better than I realized (and I already had a high opinion of him, but I make a point of […]
Read more...Paul Keating, former Austrailian Prime Minister, gave an assessment of Timothy Geithners’ performance in the Asian crisis that is sharply at odds with US reports. According to Keating, Geither completely misread the nature of the crisis, that it was the result of hot money flight, but reverted to the standard IMF “country facing currency crisis” […]
Read more...To be honest, I’m not quite sure how to read this Wall Street Journal piece, since this is a spat between two parties, with a “he said, she said” quality to it. However, the title, “Citigroup Chafes Under U.S. Overseers:” suggests a bias in favor of Citigroup.”Overseers” is a weak word, suggesting Uncle Sam really […]
Read more...Now naive folks like me subscribe to the fantasy that a reputable newspaper maintains a church/state separation between its editorial pages and its news section. And then we have the Wall Street Journal as a telling counterexample. Last week, the Journal ran a op-ed piece by one Peter Schiff, a rather vocal libertaran and goldbug […]
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