Categories: OLD Media Moves

Lenders blame business media

American Public Media’s “Marketplace” show had an interesting segment Monday about the problems of subprime lenders, and it noted that many in the industry are blaming the media for their issues.

Here is the text:

Dean Starkman watches the business media for the Columbia Journalism Review. He says the bankers are exaggerating.

DEAN STARKMAN: Yeah, there’s a lot of bad news in the mortgage business. I’m not sure I see where anyone’s crossed the line, frankly.

That doesn’t mean the media’s off the hook. Starkman says journalists have a special responsibility on sensitive stories to not succumb to any bandwagon effect.

STARKMAN: One guy says subprime slump, the next guy says subprime crash, and the third headline is subprime implosion. You know, just make sure that that’s supported, that’s all.

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.