Bad News: How America's Business Press Missed the Story of the Century

Description

As the recent U.S. financial crisis unfolded, journalists struggled to keep up with the biggest story of the century. After the markets unravelled and the economy began spiralling downwards, reporters raced to cover an unfamiliar cast of characters, derivatives and toxic financial instruments. And in this midst of this collapse, ironically, the business of journalism itself hit the rocks, as the mainstream media grappled with collapsing ad revenues and falls in circulation. Bad News is the first attempt to navigate through a controversy that will be studied for decades.

Anya Schiffrin is the director of the media and communications program at Columbia University's 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.

"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 times the 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 President's Men for our time, and just the thing to lure bright young people into economics graduate programs and journalism school if only there were jobs waiting on the other end." Kirkus Reviews