Weiss wonders: Is BusinessWeek becoming hard-nosed?

Investigative business reporter Gary Weiss, himself a former BusinessWeek journalist, notes that this week’s cover of the magazine is a departure from recent its recent soft news bent.

Weiss wrote, “Business Week today has a kick-rump cover story, by my ex-cellmate Mara Der Hovanesian, on a particularly nasty species of mortgage that is afflicting homeowners.

“I hope this represents a reversal from the trend toward softer pieces that has plagued the magazine under its new regime.”

The story is on option adjustable rate mortgages, which are beginning to hurt consumers who hold these type of home loans. Der Hovanesian wrote, “Those who took the bait are in for a nasty surprise. While many Americans have started to worry about falling home prices, borrowers who jumped into so-called option ARM loans have another, more urgent problem: payments that are about to skyrocket.”

Not to worry, added Weiss. He noted that the magazine is not cutting “on its menu of ‘journalism lite’ fare. Today it inaugurated a column by a psychoanalyst ‘who will tackle your questions about how to handle the emotional dynamics of work.'”

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