The Best Business Writing 2012

Phil Graham famously described journalism as 'the first rough draft of history,' but in an era of financial scandal and collapse, the business press has had to be something more: a guardian when government and other watchdogs fell by the wayside. This riveting collection of first rate pieces covers the waterfront from Apple to Pfizer, from debt default in Europe to bugging at News Corp. and, of course, the ongoing saga of foreclosures, bankers and regulators in America, updated with an inquiry into inequality and the '1%.' This volume of digestible-sized, stiletto-sharp stories will surprise the reader at how much he or she may have missed and reminds us all how momentous was the business world of 2011. -- Roger Lowenstein, author of The End of Wall Street A riveting cross-section of hard-hitting investigative journalism... The breadth, depth, and quality of writing are sure to engage a diversity of readers. Publishers Weekly ...this book presents revealing, and sometimes shocking, investigations. Library Journal Whether readers are familiar with some of the news stories or not, this collection exposesbehaviors-both good and bad-along with their impacts, and leaves readers with much to think about. Booklist ...an absolute must-read for anyone seeking to keep their finger on the pulse of the world economy. Midwest Book Review

Dean Starkman is editor of the Columbia Journalism Review's business section, The Audit, which tracks financial journalism in print and on the web, and is the magazine's Kingsford Capital Fellow. A reporter for two decades, he worked eight years as a Wall Street Journal staff writer and was chief of the Providence Journal's investigative unit. He has won numerous national and regional journalism awards and helped lead the Providence Journal to the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Investigations. Martha M. Hamilton is a former writer, editor, and columnist for the Washington Post who investigates complaints about financial journalism for CJR's "The Audit." She is also the author, along with former Post colleague Warren Brown, of Black and White and Red All Over. Ryan Chittum is deputy editor of CJR's The Audit. He's a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and has written for numerous other publications, including the New York Times. He is also a contributor to Bad News: How America's Business Press Missed the Story of the Century. His recent work can be seen at www.cjr.org/author/ryan-chittum-1/. Felix Salmon is the finance blogger for Reuters. He arrived in the United States in 1997 from England, where he worked at Euromoney magazine. He also wrote daily commentary on Latin American markets for the former news service, Bridge News, and created the Economonitor blog for Roubini Global Economics.

Introduction Part I. Bad Business 1. The Dark Lord of Coal Country, by Jeff Goodell 2. Missing Milly Dowler's Voicemail Was Hacked by News of the World, by Nick Davies and Amellia Hill 3. Phone-Hacking Crisis Shows News Corp Is No Ordinary News Company, by Jay Rosen 4. The Bugger, Bugged, by Hugh Grant 5. A Case of Shattered Trust, by Raquel Rutledge and Rick Barrett Part II. The Financial System and Its Discontents 6. The "Subsidy": How a Handful of Merrill Lynch Bankers Helped Blow Up Their Own Firm, by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger 7. Countrywide Protected Fraudsters by Silencing Whistleblowers, Say Former Employees, by Michael Hudson 8. Curse the Geniuses Who Gave Us Bank of America, by Jonathan Weil 9. Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes?, by Matt Taibbi 10. In Financial Crisis, No Prosecutions of Top Figures, by Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story Part III. Over There 11. Time for Germany to Make Its Fateful Choice, by Martin Wolf 12. In Norway, Start-Ups Say Ja to Socialism, by Max Chafkin Part IV. Politics and Money 13. Swiped: Banks, Merchants, and Why Washington Doesn't Work for You, by Zach Carter and Ryan Grim 14. Stop Coddling the Super-Rich, by Warren Buffett 15. Blame for the Financial Mess Starts with the Corporate Lobby, by Steven Pearlstein 16. Nine Things the Rich Don't Want You to Know About Taxes, by David Cay Johnston 17. The Hijacked Crisis, by Paul Krugman 18. Greenspan, Rubin, and a Roomful of Hypocrites, by Morgan Housel Part V. The Big Picture 19. The Rise of the New Global Elite, by Chrystia Freeland 20. Can the World Still Feed Itself?, by Brian M. Carney 21. Law School Economics: Ka-Ching!, by David Segal 22. When Patents Attack!, by Alex Blumberg and Laura Sydell 23. The Illusions of Psychiatry, by Marcia Angell 24. From Inside Job, by Charles Ferguson, Adam Bolt, and Chad Beck Part VI. Corporate Stories 25. Inside Pfizer's Palace Coup, by Peter Elkind and Jennifer Reingold, with Doris Burke 26. It Knows, by Daniel Soar 27. Innovators Don't Ignore Customers, by John Gapper 28. House Perfect, by Lauren Collins 29. Voting to Hire a Chief Without Meeting Him, by James B. Stewart 30. How Ford Became Last Man Standing, by Bernie Woodall and Kevin Krokicki 31. What Made Steve Jobs So Great?, by Cliff Kuang Permissions List of Contributors