Media News

The balancing act in business journalism

J. Jennings Moss

J. Jennings Moss, the departing editor of the Silicon Valley Business Journal, writes about the difficulty that faces business journalists.

Moss writes, “Unlike other some other lines of journalism, business news can be a bit incestuous. We’re writing about companies that might be advertisers. Or our advertisers come to us with legitimate story ideas about their activities or tips about what their competitors are doing. Like everything else, every idea needs to be evaluated on its merits.

“Sometimes, though, someone will accuse us of not being there for the home team. Or we’ll get blamed if a company goes under while they’re a subject of news stories. My response to such criticism is this: we are not the Chamber of Commerce. We’re not boosters but story tellers and truth gatherers. One way I think we’re different than general media is that we’re more willing to give a new business the benefit of the doubt; we don’t automatically go looking for the negative.

“Consider this the flip side of giving someone the benefit of the doubt. Business media also needs to ask tougher question and, when appropriate and warranted, to be more critical. The challenge is this kind of journalism takes time and resources and persistence. Those are all things that can be hard to find when information flows instantaneously, and a piece of news you weren’t expecting (which, let’s be frank, is a pretty good definition of what “news” means) derails your best-laid plans.”

Read more 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.

Recent Posts

WSJ’s Brown is leaving publication

Ken Brown of The Wall Street Journal is leaving the news organization. He is an…

2 hours ago

Jones will not seek another Dow Jones News Fund board term

Dow Jones News Fund President Brent W. Jones announced at the nonprofit journalism training organization’s…

3 hours ago

Bloomberg hires Clark to cover VC and startups

Jillian Ward, managing editor for U.S. technology at Bloomberg News, sent the following note to…

3 hours ago

Berke of STAT News on the importance of its coverage

Rick Berke, a co-founded and executive editor of STAT News, writes about the importance of…

3 hours ago

Maxwell joins Gizmodo as a tech reporter

Thomas Maxwell has joined Gizmodo as a tech reporter. He previously was at Business Insider covering…

8 hours ago

Banking Times acquires The New Fiver

Banking Times has acquired the domain name "The New Fiver" for an undisclosed amount, aiming…

23 hours ago