This New York Times story is representative of what many of us have been reading in metro and national newspapers about the state of the economy: the one-source article based on a transcript or a statement with scant indication of additional reporting. Moreover, the Times writer in this dispatch doesn't record negative results, such as noting whether calls and/or efforts were made to contact Martin J. Sullivan, the company’s former chief executive, and Joseph Cassano, who directed AIG's financial products division. Even Reuters in a short dispatch made attempts to contact Sullivan and Cassano (see link below). Worse, this Times article is unclear as to the status of Cassano who announced his retirement last February. There is no background information about Cassano whose unit reportedly was responsible for some $11 billion in AIG losses and yet received a PLATINUM PARACHUTE of $34 million in bonuses with a $1 million per month clause as a consultant. Curiously, the Times reporter has much of this literally at his fingertips in the archives; so I remain puzzled about why he did not include a "nut graph" (nuts and bolts journalism)--a paragraph or two of grounding so that we could understand the ramifications and context of the story. To see how journalism is done, read the same report by Karen Freifeld at Bloomberg, the last link below.