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The Wall Street Journal: Not Just Business News
The Wall Street Journal is one of the most respected names in journalism. Known for reporting news in the financial sector, it is often quoted by business professionals. However, the Journal is not only a newspaper of dry business news, but also an award winning newspaper with stellar reporting on important issues of the day. To wit:
* In 1987, the Journal reported on the bizarre occurrences when the management at RJR Nabisco attempted to take the company private. This fiasco became an example of extreme corporate and personal greed. It was later turned into a book and movie, Barbarians at the Gate.
*In 1988, James B. Stewart, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal won a Pulitzer prize for his work explaining Insider Trading. He later wrote a book on the subject, entitled Den of Thieves.
*In 1982, David Sanford, a Journal reporter contracted HIV while engaging in sex at a bathhouse. He later reported, in 1997 on how he went from planning his death to planning his retirement, all on the strength of new treatments for HIV/AIDS. Mr. Sanford was awarded a Pulitzer prize for his work in reporting on the AIDS crisis.
*While it has been overshadowed by a great many other scandals since then, the Enron scandal in 2000 could be argued to have been the beginning of a string of corporate scandals causing the downfall of many conglomerates, including such luminaries at Tyco International. Jonathan Weil, a reporter at the Dallas bureau of the Journal is credited with being the first to break this major story.
*On September 11, 2001, the Journal staff suffered personal injury and setback as their offices were located at One World Financial Center, just across the street from Ground Zero. Given the proximity of the offices to the area of the attacks, it was feared that the Journal would not come out the next day. However, the staff reconvened partially in Dow Jones offices in New Jersey and partially in a makeshift office in the home of one of the editors. The following day, John Bussey, the then-foreign editor and now Washington Bureau chief reported a first hand account of the days' events, having witnessed the aftermath of the attacks from his office across the street. The Journal received a Pulitzer prize for its' reports on the tragedy. Later, the Journal investigated the cause of the attacks, using contacts created in exploring the world of Arab business. It was during this investigation that Journal reporter Daniel Perl was kidnapped and murdered.
*Finally, in 2007, the Journal won the Pulitzer for Public Service, thought to be the most prestigious of the Pulitzer awards for newspapers, for its' reporting on companies that illegally backdated stock options. |
