Monday, May 17, 2010

In Passing

There's an interesting piece on the US-based Daily Beast website about Gillian Tett, who has moved from a senior editorial position with the Financial Times in London to take up the post of the FT's US editor (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-16/the-most-powerful-woman-in-newspapers/ ).
Tett spoke at the Bluecoat in October, last year at the launch of her book about the banking crisis, Fool's Gold (Little, Brown, 2009) (http://condensedthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/anatomy-of-meltdown.html ). Despite its complex subject, the book provided a lucid & accessible account of the steps that led to the crisis, & an insight into the mindset of the bankers who considered themselves to be brave pioneers on the international markets.
Unlike many financial journalists, Tett demonstrated her knowledge of the key developments in the crash as well as an ability to tell it as simply as possible, something reflected in the Daily Beast's piece: "Tett, who talks with her hands and a lisp, covet the attention. She dismisses honors, like being named Journalist of the Year by the British press in 2009 and winning the Spears Award for Financial Book of the Year for Fool's Gold, as 'guilt awards' bestowed on her by a discredited media trying to clear its collective conscience for missing the financial crisis' warning signs."

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