Christmas gift: Pay us more

Zac Bissonnette of BloggingStocks.com argues that the recent strategy by ESPN to hire away top sportswriters from newspapers with high salaries should also be applied in the world of business journalism.

Bissonnette wrote, “In spite of all the complaining and gnashing of teeth about the decline of journalism, I would argue that the internet is the best thing that has happened to the industry in a long time. The rise of aggregators and syndication has probably created a decline in the number of reporter jobs available — but less duplication of efforts is good.

“Today, the most valuable sports reporters are those doing original research and providing opinion and analysis. The internet and ad-supported business models (sometimes accompanied by subscription fees, as is the case with ESPN Insider) allow media outlets to throw huge sums of money at top reporters.

“The same thing is happening in the financial press, where elite journalists like Jim Cramer command seven-figure pay packages. It’s particularly important that elite journalists be paid well particularly in business reporting, where someone with an ability for investigative financial research could probably earn a huge payday working for a money manager.”

Read more here.