Transcript sabew.org

Between Mistakes
Adventures in Journalism
Do you know the difference?
Lesson One
When you start out, work for obscure places. When
you make mistakes, only a small group of people will
know.
Lesson Two
Facts are important, but they don’t tell the story. The
story needs context and perspective. You need to think
big. A story needs to be right.
Lesson Three
Ask stupid questions
Lesson Four
Listen to cranks and outsiders
Lesson Five
Be prepared for resistance
magnetar
Journalism and the Financial Crisis
Big Simple Questions

National Public Radio came to us in the summer of
2009. They asked a very simple question:
What did bankers know about the financial crisis?
The Project: The Wall Street Money
Machine
The dominant narrative: 100 Year Flood
When?
Great financial journalism focused on the events of
the fall 2008: fall of Lehman Brothers, AIG
We decided to look at late 2006 early 2007
What did we find?


Some investment bankers and investors took
advantage of the crisis, made it worse
One hedge fund called Magnetar had helped
create $40 billion worth of bad mortgage securities
deals: Worked with investment banks to make them
weak, then bet against them
Built to Fail
Results

Magnetar: under SEC investigation

JPMorgan: paid $154 million fine

State Street Global Advisors: $5 million fine
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Merrill Lynch: under SEC investigation

Standard & Poor’s under SEC investigation

Multiple private lawsuits
How did we find Magnetar?
Sources!
Hurdles
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No SEC filings

No list of CDOs

No list of investors

No list of employees at banks who worked in CDOs
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No prospectuses
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No lawsuits

No investigations
Constellations
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We actually had to go down a list to figure out how
many constellations there were
Draco:
How did we find people?
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Asked people for suggestions, and then asked those
people for suggestions
Google searches for people who had talked about
structured finance to the media

Searches of conference attendees

Facebook, LinkedIn, other social media
Tips for finding sources
1.
2.
3.
4.
Think about who speaks to journalists, who would
speak to you
Find former employees
Find disgruntled workers, whistleblowers, people
who have sued (for any reason): they may be
crazy but they may be useful.
Surround a story: Find competitors, suppliers,
customers, regulators
How do you get people to talk?
Once you have a source, how do you get them to talk?


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Emphasize fairness and accuracy
Honor them by listening, trying to understand the
depths and complexity. You aren’t there just for a
quote.
Flattery. It never hurts!
Alcohol helps!
Reporting principles

Get documents

Balance? No. Your job is truth, not balance.

Multiple sources

No surprises: Every subject gets a chance to
respond. They should know everything you are
going to report about them. THIS PROTECTS YOU!
Writing the story
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

Clear: Even on a complex subject, write for
everyone (This will help you think about a subject).
Try to be entertaining and interesting!
“Investigative” journalism in the U.S. is often boring.
We try not to be.
We use cool graphics
We will try anything
Lessons


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Don’t be afraid to revisit a story that seems old
It’s not a matter of whether something was illegal –
it’s a question of right and wrong. Does it shock the
conscience?
Don’t be afraid to be entertaining and interesting