Visit our new site at BusinessJournalism.org
Reynolds Center Programs
Daylong Workshops
Online Seminars
One-hour Tutorials
Barlett & Steele Awards
Professors Seminar
Strictly Financials Seminar
Research
Covering Business
Starting Out
Business Writing
Business Design
Business Glossary
Ethics
Five Questions with...
Immigration Series
Business Journalism Resources
Job Listings
Academic Programs
Book Listings and Reviews
Scholarships
Calculators
Web Resources
Tutorials
Article Index
Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Hooked on Kindle
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
New Business Journalism Ventures Fill a Void
By Chris Roush
Nov. 6, 2007
I never thought I’d say this, but enough with the negativity.
Not in business journalism stories. I’m all for critical looks at CEOs and companies and other topics – as long as the reporting is fair and balanced.
But there’s been too much negativity surrounding all of the new business journalism media being launched. The introduction of Conde Nast Portfolio, Fox Business Network, a new magazine called Pursuits from The Wall Street Journal, a proposed business news web site from Slate and others signal nothing but positive things about the field.
You wouldn’t know it from what you read and hear, however. Portfolio focuses too much on the business elite. Fox is too boosterish. And why do we need another magazine and another web site devoted to business coverage?
What the critics fail to realize is that there actually is a need for more business and economics coverage. Forty years ago, maybe 10 percent of U.S. households owned investments. Now, that figure is above 50 percent and climbing.
Forty years ago, our grandparents worked for one company their entire careers. Now, we’re jumping around from job to job like frogs on lily pads.
The point is that the economy and business worlds have changed, and the business media is changing with it. As consumers demand more information to understand what’s going on in their lives, then the media respond with different ways to try to provide that information.
I look at the new publications and outlets in business journalism and see that the media world has woken up to the realization that we’re now a society that pines for as much information as we can get about money and everything that revolves around money.
What’s more, it means that there are more jobs in business journalism than there have ever been before. We’re a growth sector in an industry that’s contracting.
I don’t like some of the content I see in some of these new business media outlets. That’s nothing new. But I like that there’s more content in business journalism than ever before.
Email this article
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
New Business Journalism Ventures Fill a Void
By Chris Roush
Nov. 6, 2007
I never thought I’d say this, but enough with the negativity.
Not in business journalism stories. I’m all for critical looks at CEOs and companies and other topics – as long as the reporting is fair and balanced.
But there’s been too much negativity surrounding all of the new business journalism media being launched. The introduction of Conde Nast Portfolio, Fox Business Network, a new magazine called Pursuits from The Wall Street Journal, a proposed business news web site from Slate and others signal nothing but positive things about the field.
You wouldn’t know it from what you read and hear, however. Portfolio focuses too much on the business elite. Fox is too boosterish. And why do we need another magazine and another web site devoted to business coverage?
What the critics fail to realize is that there actually is a need for more business and economics coverage. Forty years ago, maybe 10 percent of U.S. households owned investments. Now, that figure is above 50 percent and climbing.
Forty years ago, our grandparents worked for one company their entire careers. Now, we’re jumping around from job to job like frogs on lily pads.
The point is that the economy and business worlds have changed, and the business media is changing with it. As consumers demand more information to understand what’s going on in their lives, then the media respond with different ways to try to provide that information.
I look at the new publications and outlets in business journalism and see that the media world has woken up to the realization that we’re now a society that pines for as much information as we can get about money and everything that revolves around money.
What’s more, it means that there are more jobs in business journalism than there have ever been before. We’re a growth sector in an industry that’s contracting.
I don’t like some of the content I see in some of these new business media outlets. That’s nothing new. But I like that there’s more content in business journalism than ever before.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism