Although the business media can't sell any ads during an economic meltdown like the one we're having now, it sure is a great chance for reporters to make names for themselves. Business reporters absolutely live for the periodic destruction of the American economy. This is their Normandy! After the jump, we survey the media landscape and pick out the winners and losers—all your favorites, from Paul Krugman to Jim Cramer, ranked on a merciless 10-point scale!
[Ratings are on a 1-10 scale—with 10 being the best—and are based on how much the media person or outlet has benefited from the crisis, how right they've been, and how much influence they've had.]
WINNERS
Robert Thomson, WSJ: Thomson led the WSJ's recent redesign and re-imagination—which proved perfect for the big, scary headlines necessary over the last month. [9]
Joe Nocera, NYT, and Bethany McLean, Fortune: Scored roughly a million-dollar deal to write the "definitive" book about the crisis. These two are certainly qualified to do it, but still—lucky bastards. [9]
Maria Bartiromo, CNBC: The Money Honey is still the public face of CNBC, which owned this crisis top to bottom. [8]
Lionel Barber, FT: Editor of the paper that's been consistently serious enough for long enough not to make anyone wonder about its political motives when the crisis went down. [8]
Andrew Ross Sorkin, NYT: Wunderkind M&A reporter and Dealbook chief who is just everywhere. He got a shitload of money for a book. [8]
Steve Liesman, CNBC: Senior economic reporter, and a man who's been getting way more face time with Wall Street big shots lately than their wives have. [8] John Gapper, FT: Chief business commentator at the solid pink paper, he's been admirably hard on the villains. [7]
Charlie Rose, PBS: Landed a big interview with Warren Buffett—the last investor anybody trusts. [7]
John Carney, Clusterstock: He left Dealbreaker in the midst of all this as possibly the most visible young, bloggin', new media name who actually knows what the hell is going on. [7] Felix Salmon, Portfolio: He's one of the better finance bloggers and has managed to stay on top of the crisis consistently, when not working on 12,000 word analyses of the Gawker pay structure. [6]
Daniel Gross, Newsweek: Maybe smartest of all, plans a "quickie electronic book" to be published before the end of the year. Do less work, get out first, heyo! [6]
LOSERS
Fox Business Network: Yes, the little network finally got a measurable audience because of the crisis, and yes, they go to throw some decent shots at Jim Cramer. But the comparison to CNBC just makes them look bad. [4] Charlie Gasparino, CNBC: Got a lot of airtime as a talking head, which is good for him. Was working on a book about reckless leaders at Wall Street firms like Bear Stearns before Bear Stearns collapsed, which could mean a lot of pain in the ass rewriting. Comes off as a bit of wingnut by trying to pin the whole meltdown on Obama. [4] Andrea Mitchell, NBC: Trying to report while being married to Alan Greenspan, one of the guys most responsible for this whole thing. Ha. Time to retire, maybe? [3]
Book Publishers: Who's going to buy all these books? [2]
COMMENTS (IW - as ever with Gawker, their comments often interesting)
The Doctor 4:30 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Those are some moneymakers I have no interest in seeing shake.
The Doctor Those are some moneymakers I have no interest in seeing...
4:52 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008 1 reply
Spirit Fingers 4:52 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Can we put Suze Orman in the loser pile? I don't know what she's said over the last few weeks, but the orange skin is appalling.
Spirit Fingers Can we put Suze Orman in the loser pile? I don't know...
1 reply by SaraRueful
SaraRueful 5:13 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
@Spirit Fingers: I hate her creepy zombie eyes. When I was commuting on Metro-North I switched seats once because her poster was right in front of me. {shudders}
SaraRueful @ Spirit Fingers : I hate her creepy zombie eyes. When I...
4:52 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008 3 replies
Cannot Find Server 4:52 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
NPR's been knocking it out of the park too. The "This American Life" that explained everything two weeks ago (entitled, aptly, "Another Frightening Show About the Economy") was clear-headed, full of common sense, and completely free of shouty nonsense. I knew nothing before that show, now I understand most of this crisis.
Adam Davidson and Alex Blumberg deserve an award for their work on that show alone.
Cannot Find Server NPR's been knocking it out of the park too. The "This...
3 replies by mfnher, encnyc, La Mareada
mfnher 4:58 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
@Cannot Find Server: I don't know if that was the same one they did on the mortgage crisis. I think the one your mentioning is the follow up. Either way, they're both great. I work in the industry and whenever my friends ask me what's going on, I just tell them to download the This American Life episodes.
mfnher @ Cannot Find Server : I don't know if that was the same...
encnyc 6:06 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
@Cannot Find Server: If netting didnt scare the hell out of you, nothing will. Totally agree that NPR, especially via This American Life, has done the best reporting on the financial meltdown by calmly explaining the insanity that was its cause.
encnyc @ Cannot Find Server : If netting didnt scare the hell...
La Mareada 6:13 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
@Cannot Find Server: Davidson & Blumberg have a daily podcast called Planet Money so you can be more scared and smarter than anybody else everyday.
La Mareada @ Cannot Find Server : Davidson & Blumberg have a...
4:55 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Phyllis Nefler 4:55 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
John Carney also kicks a hell of a field goal for YOUR SUPER BOWL CHAMPION NEW. YORK. GIANTS!
Oh and he's running for office in Delaware too.
Phyllis Nefler John Carney also kicks a hell of a field goal for YOUR...
5:53 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Felix 5:53 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
It was 5,000 words, tops.
Felix It was 5,000 words, tops.
6:04 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
ZiggyStardust 6:04 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Hamilton-- Ben White moving from the Financial Times to the New York Times-- and racking up gobs of front-pagers should make him a winner as well.
Ditto WaPo's Steve Pearlstein, WSJ's Dave Enrich, Robin Sidel and Damian Paletta, the American Banker staff (who have been pounding the pavement hard) and a number of others...
ZiggyStardust Hamilton-- Ben White moving from the Financial Times to...
6:16 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Dave J. 6:16 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Larry Kudlow should be on the losers list, just basically because he's a huge loser who really sucks.
Dave J. Larry Kudlow should be on the losers list, just...
10:19 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
david 10:19 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
Don't forget Yves Smith at Nakedcapitalism, most relentless high quality coverage of the carnage so far.
david Don't forget Yves Smith at Nakedcapitalism, most...
12:47 AM
missdelite 12:47 AM
I learned alot from CNN's Glenn Beck Show.
missdelite I learned alot from CNN's Glenn Beck Show.
10:27 AM
Monte Wooley 10:27 AM
"Roughly a million dollar deal?" So let's say it's really 800K, less commission, leaving 680K, less taxes, leaving 350K, and finally split in half, so that's 175K each. Those are blog-book numbers, my dear. Harumph.
Monte Wooley "Roughly a million dollar deal?" So let's say it's...
International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT
