Business press finds its voice in covering Wall Street shakeup

Dean Starkman of Columbia Journalism Review writes that the business media has acquitted itself well in covering the downfall of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch, as well as the overall malaise on Wall Street.

Starkman writes, “The business press is doing an able job—The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, particularly—as it scrambles to both keep up with a howling blizzard of events and to convey the enormity, sweep, and scope of what it is describing.

“It’s worth pausing for a moment to appreciate the language itself, the likes of which we haven’t read in the business press in our lifetime:

Crisis on Wall Street as Lehman Totters

“And that’s only the first line of a headline that dominates the Journal’s website. Here’s the second line:

Merrill Seeks Buyer, AIG Hunts for Cash

“Lehman’s viability has been the subject of heated debate for months. Still, though, its actual failure is a shock. And to have Merrill Lynch —a Wall Street stalwart, loved, hated, but always a key financial-page protagonist —just vanish is to me the biggest stunner of them all. I’m sure some people predicted this, but not many.”

Read more here.