Categories: Media Moves

WSJ named most influential biz news outlet; Sorkin is most influential biz journalist

The Wall Street Journal remains the most influential financial news organization in the country for the third year in a row, according to survey results released Wednesday.

The Journal was nominated as the most influential news organization by 85.4 percent of the more than 400 financial journalists who responded to the survey. That’s up from 82.8 percent in 2014.

Bloomberg News remained second with 57.8 percent, up from 57.5 percent in 2014, while the New York Times was third, with 29.3 percent, down from 31 percent.

The Financial Times was fourth, while CNBC was fifth, moving up a spot. Reuters fell a spot to sixth.

The survey, done by DePaul University professors Mat Ragas and Hai Tran, was released Wednesday by Gorkana. The survey was done from March 4 to March 30- and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

“The rankings of the most influential publications remain quite stable with The Wall Street Journal still clearly the most influential media outlet in the U.S.,” said Jeni Chapman, managing director of Gorkana U.S. in a statement. “Bloomberg is by far the next most influential financial outlet, underscoring the dominant position it has carved out in the industry.”

Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times and CNBC was named the most influential financial journalist for the third year in a row. He was nominated by 23.7 percent of the financial journalists, down from 27.5 percent in 2014.

Jon Hilsenrath, who covers the Federal Reserve for The Wall Street Journal, was No. 2 with 17 percent, up from 16.4 percent in 2014.

Gretchen Morgenson of the Times and Michael Lewis of Vanity Fair tied for third with 14.4 percent, while Jim Cramer of CNBC and TheStreet moved from eighth to fifth with 11.3 percent.

Entering the top 10 most influential financial journalists were Jason Zweig of The Journal and Joe Weisenthal of Bloomberg News. They tied for ninth with 4.6 percent.

The full report can be found here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.