The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer is renowned for its balanced, in-depth reporting. This anthology of NewsHour segments comes to terms with thorny issues of business ethics. Through interviews with key figures and insightful analysis, the anthology blends case studies and background reports to explore the Enron affair, stratospheric executive compensation, Wall Street irregularities, and other topical business concerns within their broader contexts.

The episodes are…

• CEOs’ View of Corporate Ethics: Paul Solman elicits perspectives from CEOs Pete Peterson, Bill George, and Dick Syron on corporate and accounting scandals

• Executive Perks: Ray Suarez talks with Harvard Business School’s Rakesh Khurana, author of Searching for a Corporate Savior, and Robin Ferracone, a partner with Mercer Human Resources Consulting, about the pay and perks of Jack Welch and other CEOs

• Ethics of Stock Options: Margaret Warner analyzes the effects of stock options as compensation for managers and executives with TechNet’s Rick White and law professor Jennifer Arlen

• Executive Pay—The Issues: Paul Solman inquires into the factors that influence executive pay

• Executive Pay—Market Forces: Paul Solman examines whether the marketplace truly has a say in determining executive salaries

• Wealth and Democracy: Paul Solman analyzes the impact of wealth on democracy with author Kevin Phillips and free market champion Lawrence Kudlow

• Tricks of the Accounting Trade: Paul Solman examines short-term accounting gimmicks that businesses sometimes use to inflate earnings reports

• Accounting Alchemy at Enron: Paul Solman takes a look at the sleight-of-hand accounting that contributed to the rise and fall of Enron

• Wall Street Fraud: Terence Smith discusses the implications of a $1-billion settlement by major Wall Street firms with Jim Cox, professor of corporate and securities law, and Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance

• Mutual Fund Fraud: Margaret Warner investigates unfair mutual fund management practices such as late trading and market timing with Donald Langevoort, a former special counsel at the SEC, and John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group

• Legislating Ethics: Terence Smith considers Sarbanes-Oxley corporate reforms with law professor Jim Cox; Nell Minow, editor of the watchdog Web site The Corporate Library; and The Brookings Institution’s Bob Litan

• Wall Street Ethics, Part I: Gwen Ifill reviews the settlement of the lawsuit alleging that Merrill Lynch misled investors with John McConnell, of the Krannert School of Management; Paul Kedrosky, a former equity analyst at HSBC; and New York Times financial writer Gretchen Morgenson

• Wall Street Ethics, Part II: Margaret Warner examines the ways Wall Street investment firms can influence the stock market with Columbia Law School’s John Coffee; Peter Siris, managing director of Guerilla Capital Management; and Stuart Kaswell, general counsel for the Securities Industry Association

(3 hours)