Writing about Wall Street, the person

Tom Reilly, the editor of the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle in Massachusetts, writes about how business journalists often personify what’s going on in the stock market.

Reilly writes, “Adding to the public’s confusion about our national fiscal crisis is, I fear, the manner in which the news media is reporting the issue.

“And I say this speaking as a former business editor, who was hand-picked for that demanding post after my then-publisher came back from a long lunch one day and said, ‘Hey, we need a business editor. Who doesn’t look busy around here?’

“One of the confusing things I noticed about business journalism — along with the fact that, when going on interviews I was sometimes required to wear a jacket and pants that matched, what’s called a ‘suit,’ I believe — was the tendency of my peers to refer to the stock market, or ‘Wall Street,’ as if it were an actual, living person.

“They would write things like, ‘Wall Street was optimistic today about the future of Consolidated Widget as the troubled company announced massive layoffs, sending its stock price soaring.'”

Read more here.