June 23, 2003 1:19 PM EDT NEWSFLASH -- BABBLING STILL HAPPENS The Babbler is a big fan of the smart work done by Laura Rittenhouse, whose firm specializes in measuring the distance between a CEO's talk and the company's corresponding financial walk. So the Babbler was glad to see Tatiana Serafin's Reuters story, which now resides in our "Speaking of Babble" section. Oddly enough, the story finds, "CEOs Prefer Spin in Annual Letters," as the supposed new focus on transparent disclosure seems to have had little impact on how CEOs hold a pen. I AM NOT A CONTRARIAN. The story prompted today's lead babble from AOLTW spokeswoman Tricia Primrose, whose use of the word "robust" to defend the use of the word "robust" comes off as the pejorative denial of a babble addict. The Babbler once marveled...continued Mar 27, 2003 11:52 AM EST SCRUSHY WORDS Meanwhile, the language-hawks at andBEYOND say HealthSouth's situation was clearly telegraphed by the company's violation of its "three simple tests of financial reporting integrity" -- failing to distinguish between GAAP and pro-forma numbers, using smoke and mirrors with debt manipulation, and bragging about meeting analyst expectations. The Babbler agrees, but thinks more obvious evidence presented itself every time suspended CEO took the stage to sing his band's one minor hit, "Honk if You Love to Honky Tonk." Mar 11, 2003 10:49 AM EST HOW MANY POINTS FOR "MALFEASCANCE?" Yesterday, the Babbler promised to bring you the worst fruits of this year's annual report harvest. Last night, he was heartened to see L.J. Rittenhouse's andBEYOND Communications announcing had already compiled its own rankings of the best and worst of CEO communications for 2002. The rankings were created by a methodology weighing factors such as the directness and consistency of financial data and the use of "jargon, spin and confusing statements." TO INFINITY! Despite his initial assumption that a company called "andBEYOND" probably owns the licensing rights for all Buzz Lightyear toys and apparel, the Babbler senses he may have found some able allies in the ongoing War on Babblism. The Babbler still promises to deliver some entirely unscientific rankings of the goofy, the bad and the ugly. Stay tuned. Mar 10, 2003 2:20 PM EST RITES OF SPRING Ah, Spring is in the air, and the Babbler smells annual report season lilting on the breeze. Various loyal readers have suggested the Babbler take a good look at this year's crop, and the Babbler promises to deliver. As today's lead exception from GE's Jeff Immelt shows, a few companies actually use their reports -- and particularly their CEO letters -- to make a relevant statement. GE: “A GE business can briefly get out of balance strategically or operationally, but rarely do we get both wrong at the same time. We did at ERC." Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Immelt commenting in the company's 2002 annual report , as reported by the FT's Andrew Hill. The Babbler always finds a two-pronged mea culpa more effective.