Biz journalist Antilla on writing “investor protection crap”

Dean Rotbart of 2020 Business News Luminaries interviewed longtime business journalist Susan Antilla about her career.

Antilla, who worked at USA Today, the New York Times and Bloomberg News, among others, wrote the 2002 book, “Tales From the Boom-Boom Room: The Landmark Legal Battles That Exposed Wall Street’s Shocking Culture of Sexual Harassment,” that was first to expose the pay discrimination and sexual abuse that plagued women in the brokerage industry.

Now a reporting fellow at Type Investigations, formerly known as The Investigative Fund, her career-long fight against exploitation by companies, institutions, and individuals was honored in 2017 by the Consumer Federation of America, which presented Antilla with its prestigious Betty Furness Consumer Media Service Award.

“I don’t mind tedious, detailed work,” said Antilla about her ability to find stories. “I like people, and I’m an optimist. I think that helps.”

“I think I have a pretty good BS indicator. If I smell something is wrong, I am just going to stay with it.”

At USA Today, a top executive ordered her editor to “get on the phone with Antilla and tell her that I want her to stop writing that investor protection crap” after writing what was wrong with mutual funds such as conflicts of interest. She replied, “I think we’ve got a problem here because investor protection crap is what I do.”

To listen, go here.