Why the lack of biz journalism is a missed business opportunity

Claire Williams

American Banker reporter Claire Williams reviews “The Future of Business Journalism: Why it Matters for Wall Street and Main Street,” written by her former professor Chris Roush.

Williams writes, “Where did that leave people like me, at 20 years old at the University of North Carolina, walking into Roush’s business reporting class for the first time? I took business reporting and economics reporting classes with Roush, now dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, when he ran the business journalism program at UNC.

“Sure, reporting is fun, and it might be valuable, but it’s not worth much to me if I can’t make a career out of it. Screw it, maybe I should listen to my parents and go to law school. Or worse, into public relations.

“But what sets Roush’s new book (and his classes) apart is his insistence that good journalism and profitable journalism are one and the same. I did not, thankfully, go to law school after taking Roush’s class. Instead I went to work at one of those local newspapers everyone liked to talk about.

“They were one of the lucky ones that largely had a business desk still intact, but the empty chairs in the newsroom echoed the story that Roush told in his book. Still, local business leaders clamored for our coverage, and complained there wasn’t enough of it. That, Roush suggests, isn’t just a civic misstep, but a missed business opportunity.”