The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.6
Rob Wells
{"title":"THE REPORTER AND HIS INDUSTRY","authors":"Rob Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.6","url":null,"abstract":"The life of veteran financial journalist Stan Strachan and his newspaper, the National Thrift News both traced the broader arc of the savings-and-loan industry from the mid-1970s through the early 1990s; the industry prospered due to a post-World War II housing boom but foundered in the mid-1970s as a result of regulatory strictures and rising inflation; federal deregulatory policies used to revive the industry backfired, triggering the collapse of thousands of thrifts. The roots of Strachan’s traditional journalistic training and idealization of U.S. society were central to his reputation for journalistic independence. He used his close contact with the industry to advance the newspaper’s journalism; insider knowledge allowed reporters to break important stories.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"55 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122143831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.10
Rob Wells
{"title":"KEATING’S WAR WITH THE PRESS","authors":"Rob Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.10","url":null,"abstract":"Like Donald Trump, Keating used his economic power to intimidate reporters and regulators with lawsuits as he pursued his business expansion; Keating and Trump parallels are discussed. The fight between Keating and the press points to a broader tension between capitalism and the press, a central theme in the book. Keating’s lawsuits and legal threats are examined with new archival material from American Continental Corporation Archives and a Federal Bureau of Investigation FOIA request. The chapter shows how early mainstream press coverage missed signs about Keating’s political manipulation of the regulatory process. It also shows how National Thrift News engaged in detailed beat reporting where the New York Times, American Banker, and the Wall Street Journal did not.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127907883","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.8
Rob Wells
{"title":"THE DEVELOPER","authors":"Rob Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.8","url":null,"abstract":"A personal and professional profile of millionaire developer and banker Charles H. Keating Jr., the public face of the savings-and-loan crisis, describes how he exploited a permissive business environment and the Reagan administration deregulatory trend in the 1980s to build his American Continental Corporation and Lincoln Savings and Loan empire. Keating and his career fit within the broader economic and cultural changes in the 1980s that celebrated materialism and excess. Keating’s complex character is examined; he was an accomplished athlete, a generous contributor to the Catholic Church, and a crusader against pornography. He was a moralist and yet he skirted the law numerous times, beginning with a federal securities fraud case in 1979 that he ultimately settled with regulators.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131279330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.13
Rob Wells
{"title":"“THE CHARLES KEATING OF FLORIDA”","authors":"Rob Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.13","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter tests the narrative of Stan Strachan’s journalistic independence by examining how National Thrift News covered one of Strachan’s friends, David Paul, owner of the CenTrust Savings and Loan in Miami; Paul was sentenced to eleven years in prison on bank-fraud charges. This case illustrates the complex web of personal and professional connections between trade journalists and industry officials. Interviews and a content analysis show National Thrift News was not the leader of the David Paul coverage, but it still wrote critical articles about the editor’s friend, counter to the outcome predicted by the political economy theory. Strachan’s professional values as a journalist and the newspaper’s culture of accountability are possible explanations for the deviation.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116516450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.12
Rob Wells
{"title":"MEDIA AND THE KEATING FIVE","authors":"Rob Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.12","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter provides a case study and content analysis of how mainstream business journalism failed to report on the Keating Five meeting, a significant event that foreshadowed the failure Lincoln Savings and Loan. National Thrift News coverage is compared to that of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, American Banker, and the Associated Press. The study finds how National Thrift News was first to report on the Keating Five meeting even though the story was available to other news organizations. News coverage following the collapse of Lincoln Savings shows a pack journalism mindset.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"327 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124301162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The EnforcersPub Date : 2019-11-01DOI: 10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.7
R. Wells
{"title":"The Enforcers","authors":"R. Wells","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvs32t97.7","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the historical foundation of watchdog reporting in journalism and its application to business reporting; it argues that business journalists must watch over powerful corporations and alert society to potential threats. The press’s watchdog tradition should be examined through a new dimension for the trade press; it acts as an enforcer of normative behavior in a particular industry. Trade-press editors and reporters often are called the “conscience” of a given business as they report on people and companies that violate business ethics. In this fashion, trade journalists again serve a critical function in capitalism, helping markets self-regulate.","PeriodicalId":315959,"journal":{"name":"The Enforcers","volume":"74 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133765386","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}