You know those e-mails you write and shouldn't send.

Well, I sent it. And now, I'm posting it. Publicly.

To Yvette Kantrow, Executive Editor, The Deal.

Hi,

I'm just so stunned by your story about me, I'm just sitting here shaking my head.

Really? "Chirped"? "Information-free"?

You want to point me towards another journalist who helped a broad, lay audience understand that Fannie and Freddie were central to the recycling mechanism of U.S. export dollars back into the U.S. credit market?

I particularly love the idea that we might think that our audience would be turned off by phrases like "mortgage-backed security." Umm, Yvette, they will be. Everyone will be. It's confusing to the lay person. Most people don't know what that means.

Please, call your mom or your cousin or visit anyone who doesn't subscribe to The Deal and ask them what a mortgage-backed security is. Hand them any story you have ever written and then play my story. Ask them which taught them more: yours or mine? I win, every time. Guaranteed.

Listen to the story again. Listen to any of my stories. There is a solid, powerful point there -- the idea of the recycling mechanism. And then, there is an attempt at clear, engaging reporting.

That's how you get information across.

I'm thinking of the Bronx Zoo idea. I just might do it.

I wrote about this on our new blog:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2008/09/the_deal_gets_nasty.html

All the best,
Adam

categories: Fun With Economics

5:43 - September 14, 2008

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