Orange County Register business columnist Jon Lansner wonders why S&L regulator John Reich believes that the media can cause the downfall of a struggling financial institution.
“In wake of the IndyMac debacle, Reich questions why some analysts are guessing what other banks and S&Ls won’t survive the current economic storm. Reich hints that reporters disseminating those banking critiques are bordering on criminality: ‘I am an ardent believer in free speech and the First Amendment, but I also know our Supreme Court has ruled that free speech has its limits. You cannot scream ‘fire!’ in a crowded theater. Nor, in my view, should anyone feel free to scream ‘failure!’ in a bank lobby. This, in effect, is what happened across America (two weeks ago) and it was shameful.’
“Trying to blame the media –- whether the critic be regulator or banker –- for challenges of sickly financial institutions is nothing new. I reported extensively on the last S&L crisis in the late 1980s and recall rebukes of my own ‘irresponsible’ reporting by, among others, Charlie Keating’s Lincoln S&L. Keating eventually served jail time for trashing the failed institution.”
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