Business News Headline - 20 August, 2008

Reuters - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares plunged to their lowest levels in almost 20 years on Wednesday, while the mortgage companies' bonds rallied on the belief that an increasingly likely government bailout would wipe out shareholders but secure their massive debt.

Reuters - California's attorney general is reviewing a request by former employees of IndyMac Bancorp Inc to investigate whether a New York senator triggered the bank's collapse by releasing confidential information.

Reuters - New York's state attorney general office on Wednesday intensified its probe into auction-rate debt focusing on Bank of America Corp, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank AG, while issuing a warning to brokerages.

Rural communities in New York and Pennsylvania have seen intense leasing activity as energy companies have turned to natural gas buried deep underground. Extraction has potential to jump-start the flagging local economy, but it has also raised environmental concerns.

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Mark Jurkowitz, associate director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, talks about media coverage of the economy and why the news hasn't always kept up with public interest and concern.

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