Synopses & Reviews
Where was the business press in the weeks and months leading up to the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression? As our economy unraveled, journalists struggled to keep up with the story of the century, grappling with an alphabet soup of derivatives, backroom deals, and toxic financial instruments. But many fault the media itself for having helped to create the bubble in the first place. Did the press fail its mandate as an engine of truth by buying into the hubris and exuberance of the preceding decades?
Bad News is a foundational text for navigating a controversy that will be studied for years to come. With contributions from leading journalists and academicsincluding Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia Journalism Reviews Dean Starkman, and Huffington Post business editor Peter S. Goodmanthis collection presents a complex debate in a highly accessible format for anyone from curious readers and scholars to journalists themselves. And ultimately, the questions it raises illuminate the heated debate about the medias role as guardians of our democracy.
Review
Thorough, hard-hitting, and admirably balanced. It should be required reading for
anyone who believes that solid reporting on the business and financial world is important to democracy.”
James Ledbetter, Editor in Charge, Reuters.com
Smart, deeply considered
fascinating read.”
Robert W. McChesney, co-author, The Death and Life of American Journalism
"In the thrall of Wall Street and way too cozy with their sources, America's business press missed the biggest story of our timesthe collapse of the U.S. economy. Bad News explains how this happened."
Arianna Huffington
"Though the contributors disagree on whether the media did or did not do its job, all present smart, deeply considered analyses that make for fascinating reading."
Publishers Weekly
"A sort of All the Presidents Men for our time, and just the thing to lure bright young people into economics graduate programs and journalism schoolif only there were jobs waiting on the other end."
Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
As the recent U.S. financial crisis unfolded, journalists struggled to keep up with the biggest story of the century. When the markets unraveled and the economy began spiraling downward, reporters raced to cover an unfamiliar cast of characters and an alphabet soup of derivatives and toxic financial instruments. And in the midst of this collapse, ironically, the business of journalism itself began to disintegrate as the mainstream media grappled with collapsing ad revenues and falls in circulation.
Faulted for cheerleading coverage that helped create the bubble, the business media came under siege from commentators across the political spectrum epitomized by Jon Stewarts now-famous attack on James Cramer for his uncritical coverage of Bear Stearns and other financial giants. Did the press fail in its critical role as it gave in to the irrational exuberance that fed the bubble itself? How do we explain these failures?
The role of the business press in the financial crisis strikes at the heart of the heated debate about the medias role as guardians of our democratic society. With contributions from leading journalists and academics at the forefront of this issueincluding Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia Journalism Reviews Dean Starkman, and Huffington Post business editor Peter S. GoodmanBad News presents a foundational text in navigating a controversy that will be studied for decades to come.
About the Author
Anya Schiffrin is the director of the media and communications program at Columbia Universitys School of International and Public Affairs. She spent ten years working overseas as a journalist in Europe and Asia. She lives in New York City.