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The Media On Trial: Did the Media Fail us with reporting Madoff? Part 1

By Steve Lombardi

Media Malpractice

Where was the media during the near decade that Madoff was scamming $50 Billion?

Why weren't any questions being raised in the print and electronic media for the ten years Madoff was running his Ponzi scheme?

Could it be that no one knew about Madoff?

Is this scheme, like the subprime scam just something that no one knew was occurring?

Was this scheme, like the Y2K scam just too far above the average journalist's intelligence?

Or has the media in general become complacent, after book deals and jobs where hairspray is deemed more worthy of their time than exposing the truth?

Today and tomorrow we will examine the media clips on YouTube that covered the Madoff breaking news. As you watch the clips and listen to the reporting asks yourself if the media has let down the general public and more specifically the American public.

What is wrong with the media? Where was the media during the Bush Administration when Madoff was bilking investors with a non-existent investment strategy that raised multiple red flags within and outside of the investment community? Who, why, when, how and when seem to have been forgotten. If the print media still wonders why their business models are failing they need only look back at this period during the Bush Administration when they walked lock-step with an Administration led by a man that had failed at just about everything he ever did. If others knew why some young journalist didn't jump all over the stories put on their leather shoes and wear the soles out figuring this out? Where today is the Watergate journalists? Where was Bob Woodward; out promoting his next book? Is he still a reporter? Is he still a journalist? Or is he now like Limbaugh just an entertainment commentator?

Jim Voss knew, others complained, so why didn't the media investigate, ask questions, probe and publicly question those involved? I have to wonder if the basics still apply. Remember who, what, when, why and how? Do these questions still matter; or does a news desk job with a million dollar contract, a make up person and plenty of hairspray? Let's start with whether others knew and were willing to talk about the doubts they had concerning the Madoff investments.

February 4, 2009 - Harry Markopolos knew - Harry Markopolos, Financial Services Committee, McCarthy (D-NY) - "Assessing the Madoff Ponzi Scheme and Regulatory Failures"

His entire transcript of his testimony can be viewed online at: Simoleon Sense. (65 pages)

Markopolos knew for 9 years. He offered to go undercover, hid his finger prints, and went to Spitzer to get his attention. This day, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises held a hearing to assess the alleged $50 billion investment fraud engineered by Mr. Bernard L. Madoff. This is the second in a series of hearings that will help to guide the work of the Financial Services Committee and the Capital Markets Subcommittee in the 111th Congress in undertaking the most substantial rewrite of the laws governing the U.S. financial markets since the Great Depression. Harry Markopolas is 52 years old. The man who spent nearly a decade trying to blow the whistle on what appears to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history has achieved a kind of hero status within the investment world.

Harry Markopolos, an independent financial fraud investigator for institutional investors and others seeking forensic accounting expertise, as well as a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Fraud Examiner, testifies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2cZj-8Aviw

Markopolos: I gift wrapped and delivered the largest Ponzi scheme in history to the SEC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_Tgu0txS0

The Russian Mob knew. Allegedly the Russian mob and the South American Drug Cartel invested with Madoff through European feeder funds. The SEC knew. The Boston investment groups knew what Markopolos saying and they supported him. So why wasn't anyone in the media asking the tough questions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtympOrheg

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Steve Lombardi

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on April 28, 2009 (boomark / email).