Abrams Research Survey: Financial Journalists Say Media Dropped Ball On Crisis

NEW YORK — Signaling a look inward that echoes critiques of the media's performance in the months before the Iraq War, some of the nation's top financial journalists believe reporters dropped the ball as the nation's economy tumbled toward crisis mode.

Sixty-two of 100 journalists surveyed by Abrams Research, a firm started by former MSNBC chief Dan Abrams, criticized the media's work, suggesting there was an over-exuberance about the economy and a failure to connect the dots as troubles began.

"That's a very telling and interesting number," Abrams said Thursday. "Some of the comments we got were really fascinating. I think there's a lot of self-examination going on within the financial media about what happened and why."

The journalists questioned over the past few weeks, mostly reporters from organizations such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and others, were promised their identities would be kept confidential in return for their opinions.

They split almost evenly on who deserved the most blame for the crisis: 45 said banks and 44 said regulators. Only two believed that the media was mostly to blame, and nine pointed their fingers at consumers.

Said one journalist: "Everyone dropped the ball. But the media does not have nearly as much blood on its hands as the financial industry and government."

Another reporter said that, just like in the dot-com era, basic rules of gravity were ignored. What goes up, must come down.

"I blame myself in part," one reporter said. "I wrote about many of the components of the bust, including the opacity of derivatives (where does the risk go?), the extremely low interest rates that fueled housing, and declining lending standards. But I failed to put it all together and see how really, really bad things would get."

Yet there was a substantial minority that resisted blame being placed on the media.

"The media, like real life, is full of a diversity of opinions and stories," a journalist wrote. "The warning signs were there, and stories were written about the looming dangers. I find it offensive that there's a notion that the entire business press can be criticized for a failure to see the future once we're in a troubled climate."

The survey found that 42 of the journalists believe at least three Fortune 1000 executives will be indicted during the coming year for their roles in the financial crisis. Abrams said he was surprised that the number was so high; 27 of the journalists believed there would be no indictments.

"Unfortunately, stupidity and venality aren't criminal offenses," one journalist wrote.

Only 30 of the journalists said they thought the current situation will come to be known as a depression. Thirty-one of the journalists said the recession would end by the beginning of next year; most believed it would stretch longer.

Comments

[lagumbo]

The so call journalists were all up Bush's and the GOP's butts.They would not critize wall street because they knew wall street was Bush's money pool. But they now have plenty to say about PRESIDENT OBAMA'S plans to get us out of this mess. What does that tell you. They were all on the same gravy train as the BUSHIES.

[sonoffestus]

Journalist?..............I thought they were extinct?

[Muskered]

I just keep flipping the quarter til i get the side I want.

[Blutus]

Not to mention that some of the best selling books every year
have to do with making a bunch of money in stocks, real estate, whatever.

And who publishes them? Things that make you go Hmmmmmmm.

Can't wait for the info-mercial: "How to Get Your Piece of the Bailout". Only $29.95!

[Blutus]

Journalists criticizing the media?

Is this some kind of joke? As in WE dropped the ball??

It's BS anyway. There's not much one can do if banks are cooking the books
and not letting anyone look at them.

[Ranta]

It was those congressmen (mostly Republican) who voted for every deregulation bill that came along. Investment banks and credit banks were allowed to combine. Banks gave credit to companies and then were allowed to sell the bonds of those companies, a conflict of interest.
Mergers and acquisitions created monopolies . We got companies that were "too big to fail".
Free enterprise works if there is competition, not monopolies.

[atomic]

When does the media not drop the ball ? The main stream corporate media has just about failed us on every front where it really matters.

[LHoney]

The weather is still pretty reliable! ;-D

[ManwithaParachute]

The MSM ignored and mocked the people warning this crisis was coming.
CNBC is still trying spread the bullpucky which got us in this mess only now they are saying it is the cure.

[frogluv73]

So financial journalists ARE NOT part of the media? Sorry, I'm not buying it...and not cause I can't afford it!

[blood1]

Ah yes, the circular firing squad is back at it...again - this attempt to blame someone / anyone else for the financial crisis. For a "research firm" to take this on is so overwhelming false, I am amazed it made even the Internet.

100 interviews - that makes up what part of the total number, you know, we need both a Numerator and Denominator to figure out if this is a significant sample size.

What are the questions, what are the possible answers ( were these graded on a scale of 1-5 or were these open ended questions) and if open ended, who interpreted the responses.

This sounds like Dave is trying to make a name for his research firm - very poor and very sad - but at least everyone can have something to laugh about tonight at the Friday night happy hour

[drjay79]

Journalists are often to close to their subject to see what is going on.

[Nonamnesiac]

Although I like Dan Abrams, his "research" is about as thorough as his opinions were on his show. As the media has changed from news to entertainment, those who report are not journalists or even professionals. They are generally wrong on most issues and simply put forward shallow, narrow opinion. They lack the knowledge and tools to analyze the economy and are simply the purveyors of "group-think", out to get the public to buy into very limited acceptable-to-the-corporations, political and economic discourse. The pundits, including Abrams, are kind of like 6 IQs who view themselves as the kings of the 2 IQs and think of themselves as having 160 IQs when they have an IQ and knowledge level of 6 and 4th grade respectively.

That explains why the same people who voted for invading and occupying Iraq become the premier consultants and the voodoo economists who preached and personally benefitted from voodoo economics=Reaganomics=neo-liberal economics=Rubinomics (unbridled free trade, deregulation, privatization, low taxes for the wealthy) and caused the current collapse became the new economic team.

[ThomH]

So what's new? Years ago a friend informed me of the senior project he elected to do at the Harvard Business School: examining the newspapers and magazines published in 1929 to see who in their columns, in the midst of the craziness of the roaring 20's, foresaw that the stock market would soon crash. Answer: no one.

All the more interesting as recent research indicates there WERE those who had specific knowledge of the imminent crash, and acted on that knowledge, with the implication that it was deliberately induced by an abrupt and arbitrary shrinking of bank credit.

[Lahonda]

...any organism that is fed by selling advertising for business generally is slow to criticize or monitor business (or government) fallouts or disasters. It's kind of like having to saw your arm off when caught in a trap. It's gonna hurt either way and they're getting paid right up until the bitter end.

[histerian]

So Michael Lewis writes this article, "The End of Wall Street" which takes us from Meridith Whitney bringing down Citi by merely looking at their books to the relationship of individual hedgefund players' correct bets with Goldman who sold those swaps to AIG who was holding the bag at time of collapse to govt money paying off those bad gambling debts. Lewis did some investigative journalism and no doubt will write another best seller. But we should be talking aboutt his findings NOW...on this site... and seeing it everywhere in the news...and investigating it further. What is the point of talking about conspiracies of media and rich people? Talk about where this govt money is going and who is getting paid off. If a few people all ready know, there's know excuse for it not being common knowledge. And no...I'm not Michael Lewis.

[walleymr]

Those journalists realize they are a part of the "media", right?