Business Coverage

Well, it only took them nearly a year to tackle this breakdown journalistic ethics, but the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) took on a CBS "60 Minutes" segment that aired back in May 2009. Nonetheless, an analysis by Martha M. Hamilton posted on the CJR Web site on April 14 found several flaws with a May 3, 2009, segment (critiqued by the Business & Media Institute on May 4, 2009). According…

The co-founder of progressive blog The Huffington Post, Arianna Huffington, has attributed the West Virginia mining disaster, along with virtually every other accident under the sun, as a direct result of  small-government and corporate greed in the April 13 Huffpo column "The West Virginia Mining Disaster and the Financial Crisis Have the Same Root Cause." "Officials say it's too soon to…

Given the media's penchant for furthering populist anti-business rhetoric, especially when it comes to beleaguered industries like the airlines, I must confess it was a bit refreshing to see a mainstream journalist skeptical of a legislative push to stick it to the commercial aviation sector.In her April 13 Swampland blog post, "Bashing the Airlines -- Always a Safe Political Bet," Time's Kate…

Investors Business Daily ("What the Government Can't Do"), whose editorials are must-reads for hard news the establishment media will either ignore or downplay, has tipped readers off to the poor reviews General/Government Motors and Chrysler cars are receiving. These would include the latest automaker report cards compiled by Consumer Reports magazine. Nearly one year into their new lives as…

After the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) cracked the 11,000 mark on April 12, some are asking if the economy is back. And while some want to credit President Barack Obama for this so-called recovery, is this financial market rally a true indicator of returning economic prosperity?  The anchor of "NBC Nightly News" asked just that question, pointing out the cover of the April 19 issue of…

Is President Barack Obama really instituting "cradle-to-grave" social policies and transforming the United States into a nanny state? Well, it may not be "womb-to-tomb" yet, but he's certainly creating a welfare state for Americans beyond their mid-20s. On CNBC's April 12 "Squawk Box," the network's Washington correspondent John Harwood was outlining what he perceived to be the more positive…

Watch the latest business video at <a href="http://video.foxbusiness.com/">video.foxbusiness.com</a>NPR and Fox News contributor Juan Williams does not see vitriolic blanket-statements condemning conservatives…

One would think that in a story about how a four-year move-up of higher fleet gas mileage requirements being imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would at least look at which manufacturers might be more or less affected by them based on what they currently sell, and how those sales are trending. Well, most readers here don't think like writers at the Associated Press. Heck, in his…

Government/General Motors announced today that it lost $4.3 billion during the second half of 2009 (actually from July 10 through the end of the year). A further look at that result will come later after yours truly has time to digest GM's 10K Report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. What stood out even further for me about the announcement was GM's top line, i.e., global revenues. That…

It's a simple law of economics, right?  If there's a demand for a certain service or good, that business has a strong shot at thriving. Since the now-defunct Air America shut down for the last time earlier this year, the casual observer must conclude that no one wanted to hear left-wing diatribes over the broadcast airwaves.  But that's not the case according to a panel on HLN's April 5 "The Joy…

I'm sure they'll have an excuse for this, but whatever it is, it won't fly with yours truly. Saturday, the New York Times published a feature called "The Pay at the Top." Instead of preparing the usual "Who made the most?" list, it instead disclosed the "pay for 200 chief executives at 199 public companies that filed their annual proxies by March 27 and had revenue of at least $6.3 billion."…

The "obesity epidemic" is the fault of poor individual choices and sedentary lifestyles, but in the news, blame typically falls on companies, rather than on the individual. CNN has attacked grocer stores, restaurants and food manufacturers for creating supposedly "addictive" products and in story after story called for more food regulations, taxes or other intervention. CNN's hearty…

Yesterday, Government/General Motors announced changes in its financial management team. Chris Liddell, who himself just started at GM in January, brought on a new VP to be involved with its pension investments. More interestingly, he hired a new VP and Treasurer with an interesting background (bold is mine): During his 11 years at Morgan Stanley (head of Industrials Investment Banking), (Daniel…

After cheerleading and campaigning on the issue for months, the network news media gleefully reported the signing of the $938 billion monumental health care "reform" bill on March 23. At the signing, President Barack Obama emphasized "tax credits" in the bill to help roughly "4 million small-business men and women, to help them cover the cost of insurance for their employees." The…