Crisis Hits the Covers

By Jennifer Hopfinger
October 10, 2008 04:09 PM

With all types of media reporting on the financial crisis these days, what else would major business magazines be covering? BusinessWeek, Forbes, and Fortune magazines all devoted the covers of their October 13th issues to the problem, but each took a different approach.

BusinessWeek’s cover story, “The New Financial Ice Age: Who gets hurt in the big credit freeze,” examines the ripple effects of the crisis. “The 14-month-old credit crunch has entered a frightening new stage—one in which even healthy sectors are vulnerable and contagion is spreading to Europe and Asia,” writes Peter Coy. According to him, the situation could still get a lot worse. “Until now the business sector has kept the economy aloft even as consumers have cut back. But if the credit crunch shuts down borrowing, businesses will begin to ax jobs, cease investment, and default on their debts in larger numbers. If rising defaults cause banks to tighten credit even more, there will be a downward spiral,” he writes.

Fortune takes an in-depth look at the rise and fall of one financial giant in particular in its cover story, “AIG's risky business.” The magazine also offers other stories on the crisis: “Main Street turns against Wall Street,” which reports on the populist backlash and its impact on politics; “Meanwhile, down in Charlotte,” a feature on Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis; and “The $55 trillion time bomb,” which considers the possibility of a blow-up in credit default swaps.

Forbes is a little more upbeat in its cover story package, “What’s Next.” “Situation, desperate--but far from hopeless,” the editors write. “[We] offer practical advice about how to weather the worst, and what to invest in now.” The issue includes articles on cheap, dividend-paying stocks, a look back on how markets have always recovered from disasters in the past, how to pick highly-rated insurers and good bear market funds.

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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism