Mitchell, former Dallas News biz reporter, dies at 71

Jim Mitchell

Jim Mitchell, a business reporter for the Dallas Morning News form 1984 to 1998 before he moved to its editorial board, died Tuesday from prostate cancer at the age of 71.

Cheryl Hall of the Morning News writes, “Mitchell’s second job out of college was with The Dallas Morning News.

“‘Jim was on the vanguard of a new era of business reporter that emerged in the 1980s,’ said Bob Mong, who, as assistant managing editor over Business News, recruited Mitchell. ‘He was well equipped to handle any business story because he was so well trained. His colleagues, the companies he covered and his readers appreciated his precision and skill.’

“At the time, The News was rapidly expanding its business coverage as one of its competitive strongholds against the Dallas Times Herald.

“The executive director of Columbia University’s Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism program told Mong that Mitchell was worthy of keeping an eye on.”

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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.