WSJ reporters wish they had been called to respond to Bear book

Leon Neyfakh of the New York Observer writes Monday that comments attributed to the former Bear Stearns CEO in a new book by William D. Cohan about Wall Street Journal reporters have the journalists and their paper upset.

Neyfakh writes, “Ms. Kelly and Mr. Siconolfi were surprised to read Mr. Cayne’s remarks. Why hadn’t Mr. Cohan warned them that he was going to include such things in his book, so they could at least respond to him? 
 
“‘Mr. Cayne’s reckless allegations about the Journal’s reporting of the Bear Stearns collapse is utterly false,’ said Wall Street Journal spokesman Robert Christie said in a statement Friday. ‘If someone had asked us to comment about Mr. Cayne’s crude and reckless assertions, the Journal would have immediately done so.’

“Portfolio publisher Adrian Zackheim, meanwhile, who acquired Ms. Kelly’s book after reading her three-part series on Bear last spring, said Mr. Cohan had committed a ‘journalistic faux pas’ by not calling ahead.

“Mr. Cohan defended himself on Friday, telling The Observer that he tried several times to get on the same page with the Journal people by emailing Mr. Siconolfi and asking to interview him.”

Read more here.