Ethics

The Nine Lives of Ousted Corporate Fat Cats

by Sheldon Rampton — July 17, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Investors who have watched their nest eggs melt away would be shocked to know that former executives of companies involved in some of the USA's largest cases of corporate malfeasance -- Xerox, Waste Management and Sunbeam -- still serve as senior executives and directors at public companies," writes Matt Krantz. "Some even sit on audit committees, acting as watchdogs against accounting deceit. In one case, an ex-president's involvement with alleged fraud isn't even disclosed in his current employer's regulatory filings."

Main Source: 
USA Today, July 18, 2002

Creative Accounting in Medialand

by Sheldon Rampton — July 17, 2002 - 10:00pm

The news media have criticized the tangled finances of companies like Enron and WorldCom, but Howard Kurtz notes that many of them are engaged in similar deals themselves. For example:


  • The New York Times struck a "newsprint swap agreement" with Enron -- a financial deal in which no physical assets changed hands.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, July 18, 2002

Off the Books

by Sheldon Rampton — July 16, 2002 - 9:27pm

If you think corporations are doing a bad job of disclosing their internal finances, what kind of job do you think they're doing of reporting on their public health, social and environmental impacts?

Main Source: 
http://www.offthebooks.org/

Fraud, Inc.

by Sheldon Rampton — July 16, 2002 - 9:18pm

If you're having trouble keeping up with all the corporate scandals, CNN and Money Magazine have created a special web feature called "Fraud Inc." The White House has also launched a website meant to give the impression that the Bush Administration is taking a tough stance against corporate evildoers.

Main Source: 
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/corruption/

The Watchdog Didn't Bark

by Sheldon Rampton — July 15, 2002 - 10:00pm

According to Harold Evans, the real mystery surrounding the president's shady stock dealings with Harken Energy is "why the watchdog media didn't bark during the 2000 presidential election, when new unflattering evidence emerged in the month before the vote. ... During the presidential election, a more thorough investigation was carried out by a group of journalists at a time when Bush was saying he would run the White House like a business corporation.

Main Source: 
Salon.com, July 16, 2002

APCO Helps WorldCom With "Transparency Initative"

by Laura Miller — July 14, 2002 - 10:00pm

WorldCom has hired APCO Worldwide to do damage control concerning the company's $3.8 billion accounting fraud reports PR Week. "The commitment initially was to being forthright, open and honest," APCO CEO Margery Kraus said referring to talks between WorldCom and APCO about a PR strategy before the crisis. "That commitment has certainly increased because that is an important way for the company to operate," Kraus said. According to PR Week, part of APCO's WorldCom strategy is "emphasizing that its current woes were the responsibility of the prior management team."

Main Source: 
PR Week, July 15, 2002

Snake Oil Search Engines

by Sheldon Rampton — July 11, 2002 - 10:00pm

Despite a complaint by Commercial Alert and threats of legal action from the Federal Trade Commission, most of the Web's largest search engines have not yet complied with federal requirements that they inform users about deceptive "pay for placement" deals that smuggle commercial placements into search results.

Main Source: 
USA Today, July 12, 2002

TV Drug Pushers Include Media and Advertising Lobbyists

by John Stauber — July 11, 2002 - 10:00pm

"Madison Avenue, facing growing legislative threats to one of the advertising industry's most lucrative categories, is stepping up the fight to protect its freedom to pitch prescription drugs directly to consumers. Drug companies, agencies and their media allies who have benefited handsomely from the flood of ads beat back one recent measure in the House of Representatives. ... The category of direct-to-consumer ads did not even exist until five years ago.

Main Source: 
New York Times, July 12, 2002

Media Back to "Shallowness, Celebrities and Pandering"

by Sheldon Rampton — July 4, 2002 - 10:00pm

In the immediate aftermath of September 11, coverage of hard news skyrocketed and ratings went off the charts. Since then, however, "the networks are slipping back into their bad, old habits," which authors Leonard Downie and Robert Kaiser describe as "the shallowness, the obsessive attention to celebrities, and the pandering to advertisers that has crept in to news gathering during the last decade."

Main Source: 
Boston Globe, July 5, 2002

The Art of the Deal

by Sheldon Rampton — July 2, 2002 - 7:12am

SatireWire.com has posted a couple of clever spoofs regarding the current wave of corporate fraud scandals. One story reports, "the U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that corporate earnings statements should be protected as works of art, as they 'create something from nothing.'" Another states, "Band of Roving Chief Executives Spotted Miles from Mexican Border ...

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