US: Did the media "drop the ball" on coverage of the financial crisis?

Posted by Lauren Drablier on January 9, 2009 at 10:34 AM

Reporting on the financial crisis was highly criticized by many, including Danny Schechter, a respected investigative journalist and the author of Plunder, a book about the modern banking system. Some countries, such as Russia, even monitored the coverage of the crisis in order to avoid spreading panic.

According to The Huffington Post and a survey conducted by former MSNBC chief, Dan Abrams' company, Abrams Research , "some of the nation's top financial journalists believe reporters dropped the ball as the nation's economy tumbled toward crisis mode."

The survey was conducted by a series of interviews with 100 journalists working at newspapers such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

The survey found that there was an "over-exuberance about the economy and a failure to connect the dots as troubles began." In addition, 45 journalists said banks were to blame for the crisis, 44 said regulators were to blame, only two believed that it was the medias fault and nine felt that it was consumers who were to blame. One journalist stated: "Everyone dropped the ball. But the media does not have nearly as much blood on its hands as the financial industry and government."

Another journalist blamed himself for failing to put together all of the pieces to "see how really, really bad things would get."

The survey also found that 30 of the journalists believe the current financial crisis will become a depression. In contrast, thirty-one believe that the recession would end by next year, however most believe that it will last much longer.

Source: The Huffington Post