Janine Wedel - Unaccountable - How Elite Power Brokers Corrupt Our Finances, Freedom, and Security

23. Linda Keenan and Janine R. Wedel, “Shadow Elite: Wall Street Profiteers—Capitalists or Communists?” Huffington Post , April 29, 2010 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-keenan/emshadow-eliteem-wall-str_b_556472.html).

24. See Frank Dobbin and Dirk Zorn, “Corporate malfeasance and the myth of shareholder value,” Julian Go (ed.), Political Power and Social Theory 17. Bingley, U.K: Emerald, 2005, pp. 179-198. They write that the financial analysts who issue firms’ quarterly profit projections became the new sources of power in the contemporary business world.

25. This was compiled by PBS’s Frontline (http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/wallstreet.html).

26. Blodget got caught and was sued for fraud and banned from the industry for life. However, in a classic case of “failing up”—being promoted despite recognized failure in previous positions—he is now the founder/CEO of a popular business news outlet called Business Insider , as well as a frequent contributor to well-regarded journalistic outlets including Slate and Newsweek .

Ten top investment firms reached a settlement in 2003 to erect more barriers between analysts and bankers within the same firm, a measure to avert such conflict of interest.

27. According to a study conducted by the Financial Times , from 1999 to the end of 2001, out of the 25 biggest business collapses, executives and directors still took in $3.3 billion in salary, bonuses, and stock/stock-option sales. Even when the stock did fall, companies could reprice the options lower, giving executives yet another chance to strike gold (“US Corporate Excess—Barons of Bankruptcy.” Finfacts Ireland , August 1, 2002 [http://www.finfacts.ie/irelandeconomy/bankruptcy.htm]).

Executive-pay expert Graef Chrystal observed that repricing options in a volatile environment allows top players to “[create] . . . an anti-gravity device, which guarantees that . . . executives will get super rich.” Quoted in John Cassidy, “The Greed Cycle.” The New Yorker , September 23, 2002 (http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/09/23/020923fa_fact_cassidy).

28. U.S Securities and Exchange Commission, “Ten of Nation’s Top Investment Firms Settle Enforcement Actions Involving Conflicts of Interest Between Research and Investment Banking.” Press release, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, April 28, 2003 (http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2003-54.htm).

29. In the ensuing chapters, we will look at various examples of how power brokers in different arenas have used TV (and other media, new and old) to press their agendas. This Huffington Post article by Nick Wing is one of many articles covering the logo petition: Nick Wing, “White House Petition: Make Lawmakers Wear Logos of Financial Backers on Clothing, Like In NASCAR.” Huffington Post , March 20, 2013 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/white-house-petition-logos_n_2912087.html).

30. Chertoff’s firm maintained that the firm represented Rapiscan only very briefly, and well before his Christmas-Day-bombing media blitz. See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/fear_pays_chertoff_n_787711.html

31. Chertoff penned an op-ed on the same topic in the Washington Post, in which his firm and its relationship to “a security and risk-management firm whose clients include a manufacturer of body-imaging screening machines” was disclosed in his bio, although the name of the firm was not mentioned. See: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123101746.html

32. Clark Hoyt, “The Sources’ Stake in the News.” New York Times , January 16, 2010 (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/opinion/17pubed.html?_r=2&).

33. Sebastian Jones, “The Media Lobbying Complex.” The Nation , March 1, 2010 (http://www.thenation.com/article/media-lobbying-complex).

34. Pew 2013 State of the Media report: Mark Jurkowitz, Paul Hitlin, Amy Mitchell, Laura Santhanam, Steve Adams, Monica Anderson, and Nancy Vogt, “The Changing TV News Landscape.” 2013 State of the Media, Pew Research Center (http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/special-reports-landing-page/the-changing-tv-news-landscape/).

35. http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/cnn-reassigns-up-to-50-employees-as-breaking-news-gets-more-emphasis-1201169734/. See also: http://www.thewrap.com/cnn-layoffs-news-digital.

36. These are so-called Super PACs (Political Action Committees)—supposedly independent of candidates and “nonprofits” (technically “social welfare” nonprofits) with generic names and often undisclosed sponsors. Super PACs are typically 527s, which can spend unlimited funds but have to disclose their sources of funding. The entities can also be 501(c)(4)s, which are limited in spending but need not disclose. The 527s and 501(c)(4)s are often paired together, like the Karl Rove-associated American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS.

37. Hamilton Nolan, “Qorvis embroiled in speaker compensation dispute.” PR Week US, October 29, 2004 (http://www.prweekus.com/qorvis-embroiled-in-speaker-compensation-dispute/article/50906/); Alex Berenson, “Big Insurer Denies Any Ties to Plans to Attack Spitzer.” New York Times, October 29, 2004 (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/29/business/29spitzer.html?pagewanted=print&position=).

38. Andrew Beaujon, “New York Times passes USA Today in daily circulation.” Poynter, April 30, 2013 (http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/211994/new-york-times-passes-usa-today-in-daily-circulation/).

39. Pew Research Center, “State of the News Media 2012: New Devices, Platforms Spur More News Consumption.” Pew Research Center, March 19, 2012 (http://www.pewresearch.org/2012/03/19/state-of-the-news-media-2012/).

40. The Newsroom has been attacked by some critics for its overly idealist vision of what news should be.

41. Mark Jurkowitz, Paul Hitlin, Amy Mitchell, Laura Santhanam, Steve Adams, Monica Anderson, and Nancy Vogt, “The Changing TV News Landscape.” 2013 State of the Media Report, Pew Research Center (http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/special-reports-landing-page/the-changing-tv-news-landscape/).

42. Quoted in Sandra Oshiro, “How laid-off journalists can stay afloat while the industry moves ‘to new moorings.’” Poynter, February 13, 2014 (http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/238425/how-laid-off-journalists-can-stay-afloat-while-the-industry-moves-to-new-moorings/).

43. Pew Research Center, “New Devices, Platforms Spur More News Consumption.” 2012 State of the Media Report, Pew Research Center (http://www.pewresearch.org/2012/03/19/state-of-the-news-media-2012/). See also Slate: Evgeny Morozov, “A Robot Stole My Pulitzer!” Slate , March 19, 2012 (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/03/narrative_science_robot_journalists_customized_news_and_the_danger_to_civil_discourse_.html).

44. Editorial, “Mary Jo White at the SEC.” New York Times, February 7, 2013 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/opinion/mary-jo-white-at-the-sec.html).

45. Arthur Levitt, “Mary Jo White Is Rockstar in SAC Deal.” Bloomberg, November 5, 2013 (http://www.bloomberg.com/video/on-sac-stage-mary-jo-white-is-the-rockstar-levitt-qtjssLQMTQaZIszipG82cQ.html).

46. Annie-Rose Strasser, “What You Should Know About Mary Jo White, Obama’s Appointment to the SEC.” Think Progress, January 24, 2013 (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/24/1489131/what-to-know-about-mary-jo-white-obamas-appointment-to-the-sec/); David Lat, “Just How Rich Is Mary Jo White, Debevoise Partner and Likely Future SEC Chair?” Above the Law, February 12, 2013 (http://abovethelaw.com/2013/02/just-how-rich-is-mary-jo-white-debevoise-partner-and-likely-future-sec-chair/); http://www.thelawyer.com/debevoises-mary-jo-white-picked-by-obama-to-head-the-sec/1016631.article