Foundation for Financial Journalism to close

Business journalist Roddy Boyd is closing the Foundation for Financial Journalism, where he wrote investigative business journalism, and is going to partner with an investor.

In an email to FFJ subscribers, Boyd writes, “The balance sheet partner relationship is purely economic: They have no editorial input, just as I have no say over how they position securities.

“Many call this ‘short activism,’ but in my view, that does not describe what I do. My work will remain the same measured, document-driven reporting that FFJ has released since 2012.

“Why am I doing this? Simply put, FFJ’s fundraising obligations are too time-consuming. Moreover, I lack the skill-set or disposition to do it well, consigning me to a life of appeals and requests that didn’t permit FFJ to grow. Finally, I’m 54 years old and wish to finish my career doing this important work, not asking people for donations 3-5 times per year.

“Second, I will soon open a new website to host this work. When this enterprise is set up, I will announce it.”

Sharesleuth, which is run by business journalist Chris Carey, operates under a similar business model.

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.