USA Today biz reporter broke NSA story

USA Today business reporter Leslie Cauley was the journalist who broke the story earlier this week about the federal government collecting information about phone calls from millions of residents to use in examining whether they were involved with terrorist actions.

As such, Truthdig.com honors her as the “Truthdigger of the Week,” and Editor & Publisher has also run a short profile of the former Wall Street Journal reporter who now covers telecommunications.

Truthdig notes, “She has been a business journalist for more than twenty years, spending nine years as a staff writer and editor for The Wall Street Journal in New York. Over the course of her career, Ms. Cauley has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times. ”

Editor & Publisher wrote, “One review noted that she had ‘earned a reputation for aggressive investigation of the numerous industry shake-ups — none more dramatic than AT&T’s headlong plunge as it misguidedly attempted to become a broadband leader….Filled with new and controversial material and peopled by a cast of characters worthy of a Shakespearean drama, this is the first book to chronicle this riveting tale.’

Read more here.

This is the type of business journalism that shows society that we can be their watchdog. I wished I saw more business reporting about the relationship between companies and government agencies.