Bad News: How America's Business Press Missed the Story of the Century

The business press took a sound beating after the economic crisis—both because of what was widely regarded as its failure to accurately anticipate and warn the public of the impending cash, and the implosion of American print journalism as advertising revenue evaporated and the Web poached its readers. Schiffrin, director of the media and communications program at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, assembles contributions from leading journalists and academics, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz and Peter S. Goodman, national economic correspondent for the New York Times, who engage in soul-searching about why the crisis was not predicted earlier and whether the ensuing coverage was adequate. Though the contributors disagree on whether the media did or did not do its job, all present smart, deeply considered analyses that make for fascinating reading. (Feb.)