Reporters Consider Implications of Lay Indictment

The unsealing of the indictment served to Kenneth Lay is reverberating through the business journalism world as reporters consider the implications of the charges levied against the former Enron chairman.

Lay turned himself in to the FBI on Thursday, and was paraded in handcuffs, following an 11-count indictment that includes making false statements and conspiracy to commit fraud. He was released after posting $500,000 bond.

What came next can only be termed as an unconventional press conference as Lay proclaimed his innocence and then fielded questions from reporters.

Journalists chose to take many different angles to covering the story. Some focused on Lay's alleged role in the collapse of the former energy giant and his controversial sale of company stock.

"Lay was indicted after a 2 ½-year government probe into a web of corporate fraud, financial manipulation and other abuses that undermined the former Fortune 500 company and forced it to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2001," wrote Dana Calvo and Jesus Sanchez of The Los Angeles Times.

Others spoke with former Enron employees to get their perspectives on what the indictment meant to them.

"(Employees) were cheered by the news of Ken Lay's indictment," noted Elizabeth Allen of the San Antonio Express-News. "But years after their worlds collapsed, they are in very different places."

Still others questioned political ramifications from the prior close relationship Lay had with President Bush.

"The White House is trying to put at least an arm's length between President Bush and indicted Enron executive Kenneth Lay, a campaign benefactor Bush nicknamed 'Kenny Boy' when the two were up-and-comers in Texas," according to an MSNBC report.

Lay's role stems from a much-publicized fall from grace, marking one of the deepest plunges in the history of U.S. corporate business. After its stock reached an all-time high of $90.56 in August 2000, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2001.

Former Chief Executive Jeff Skilling and former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow have also been charged with counts ranging from fraud to insider training.

But Lay's position at the top of the company has raised more eyebrows in business journalism, as he faces up to 175 years in prison for the charges filed against him. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed civil charges against the former chairman.

The degree to which this plays out will be watched very closely by business journalists, and corporate America as a whole.

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