companies began to make headlines as they battled serious financial problems and then collapsed. Yet very often the weaknesses that led to the demise of such household names as Ansett, Harris Scarfe and HIH were apparent to many in the business community long before the companies were subjected to media scrutiny. This paper focuses on the reporting of HIH as part of a wider study of the Australian business press. It discusses the obstacles journalists face in monitoring 'blue chip' companies and whether the business culture that fostered the corporate collapses and boosterist reporting of the 1980s still prevails today. The collapse last year of such well-known companies as One.Tel, Harris Scarfe, Ansett and HIH has resulted in widespread financial losses throughout the community. Indeed, business journalist, Alan Kohler believes that in 2001 we experienced “one of the most expensive and damaging waves of corporate collapses in Australian history: somethin
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