NPR: NPR Ombudsman

May 28, 2008

THE GIANT POOL OF MONEY

Clarence Nathan was a man with three part-time jobs who earned about $45,000 a year, and yet a bank loaned him $540,000. The bank never checked his income.

"I wouldn't have loaned me the money, and nobody that I know would have loaned me the money," Nathan said. "I mean, I know guys who are criminals who wouldn't lend me that money, and they'd break your kneecap."

But this kind of lending happened, over and over again since 2003, leading to the mortgage crisis that has disrupted the global economy.

How did this mess happen? Through the news media you can pick up bits and pieces. But how many people really understand the housing crisis, why Bear Stearns went under, or sub-prime mortgages, or why the rest of the world was pulled under too?

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April 20, 2008

HATING THE MEDIA WHEN YOU SHOULDN'T

BLACKSBURG, Va. --- The sign in the downtown store that sells Virginia Tech paraphernalia was quite clear: "No Media, Please."

It's a fair response to the media onslaught that was expected for the one-year anniversary of the most deadly campus shooting in history. On April 16, 2007, a sociopath gunned down 32 students and then took his own life. Within hours, hordes of news media were sticking microphones, cameras and notebooks into the faces of shell-shocked students.

But that sign in the store is also not fair.

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February 13, 2008

FT. DRUM, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING and ANONYMOUS SOURCES

-- Alicia C. Shepard

NPR reporter Ari Shapiro received a mysterious-looking white envelope with no return address on Feb. 5. Its contents would help soldiers at Ft. Drum in New York.

"As soon as I opened it, I knew what it was," he said.

Inside was the kind of document that is a reporter's dream.

Continue reading "FT. DRUM, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING and ANONYMOUS SOURCES" »

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