Covering the CES as if you’re the Hunter S. Thompson of tech
Mat Honan, a senior reporter at Gizmodo, has a great story on what it’s like covering the Consumer Electronics Show, including what it takes to find a clean bathroom. Honan writes, “Then it’s time for a meeting, so I scuttle out through a maze of ocular and aural assaults, past booth after booth of headset-wearing […]
How business journalism has narrowed its focus
Dean Starkman of the Columbia Journalism Review writes in the latest issue about how business journalism has become more geared toward professional investors and less toward the general public. Starkman writes, “But here’s the problem: the interests of investors, even small ones, should not be confused with the public interest, which is much larger and, […]
Biz journalism’s role in meltdown was “grossly disappointing,” says Ratigan
Foster Kamer of the New York Observer profiles MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan, who previously worked as a business journalist at Bloomberg News and CNBC, and got his opinion of how financial journalism has performed in the past few years. Kamer writes, “Primarily, he cites the financial meltdown, and what he sees as the financial press’s failure […]
Why we should care about inflated real estate numbers
Scott van Voorhis of the Boston Globe writes Friday about the reaction to the disclosure that the National Association of Realtors has inflated home sales data by 14 percent since 2007. Van Voorhis writes, “Basically, no one believes NAR’s numbers in the first place, so what’s the big deal? “That’s not true, though. The trade […]
Utah papers, AP ignore the Overstock story
Business journalist Gary Weiss writes on SeekingAlpha.com about how the Utah business media only report one side of the Overstock.com story. Weiss writes, “When I pointed out a few weeks ago that the Utah media hadn’t made any mention of the company’s abysmal third-quarter report, or its disclosure that it was close to defaulting on […]
Biz editor says goodbye
Mike Benbow, the business editor of The Everett Herald in Washington state, is leaving his post, and writes about how his regular column has influenced his recognition in the city. Benbow writes, “Since then, I’ve been recognized more often then I’d like for that picture. More people than I want to admit have commented in […]
How we can improve tech journalism
Dave Winer, currently a visiting professor in journalism at New York University, writes for Nieman Reports on how tech journalism can be improved. Winer writes, “At the end of this year I’m thinking about the need for proper criticism of software, alongside other arts like theater, movies, music, books, travel, food and architecture. It’s finally […]
When your guest columnist is accused of running a Ponzi scheme, what do you do?
TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE The big financial news out of Indiana on Wednesday was that Keenan Hauke, chief executive officer of the Indianapolis investment firm Samex Capital Partners LLC, was charged with running a Ponzi scheme and has agreed to plead guilty. It’s an all-too-common story for today’s business journalist to cover. And the Hauke […]
Why energy coverage sucks
Chris Nelder, a columnist at SmartPlanet.com, writes about the problems he sees when journalists cover energy and provides some suggestions when reading such coverage. They include: 1. Be skeptical. You will have to make up for the missing skepticism and curiosity of the journalists you’re reading. If the article is all sunshine and roses, and […]
WSJ’s coverage of AT&T beats that from NYT
TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs thinks that The Wall Street Journal did a better job than The New York Times in covering news from AT&T during the Thanksgiving break.
